Intro
Ouch! This one stings as FC Ryukyu dropped crucial points at home, with Takuya Takagi getting some revenge on Higuchi for the past few seasons, when they fell 0-1 to visiting SC Sagamihara. Ryukyu ran headlong into a brick wall defense for only their second home defeat this season in which they were out shot and slightly outplayed by the visitors. For their part, SC Sagamihara executed their game plan flawlessly as they frustrated the Ryukyu attack all night and looked far more dangerous on several short counterattacks off of Ryukyu turnovers. The loss drops Ryukyu to fourth place but more importantly, it severely dents their bid on promotion.
- Match Highlights
- Man of the Match
- Review of the Keys to Victory
- Prediction
- Talking Points
- Round 22 in J2
- Conclusion
1. Match Highlights
2. Man of the Match
SC Sagamihara Defenders Yasumasa Kawasaki, Tatsuya Shirai, and Yudai Fujiwara: They completely shut down the Ryukyu attack. Granted, they had help from their teammates, but shutting out the third highest scoring team in the league while on the road is impressive for a team that was a mess in defense for the past few rounds.
3. Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
1. Do not sleep on Sagamihara. Likelihood 4. Maybe they didn’t, maybe they did, but they definitely slipped on this banana peel.
2. Take full advantage of the chaos that is the Sagamihara defense. Likelihood 4. Quite the opposite actually. Somehow SC Sagamihara were very well organized in defense.
3. Win the battle against the two strikers of Sagamihara, win the match. Likelihood 4. It was only the set piece that did Ryukyu in on Sunday night.
4. Prediction
Not even close with my 3-1 prediction. Season Record 6-5-11.
5. Talking Points from Round 22
1. Reo Yamashita’s debut. Not sure if starting LB Keigo Numata was given the night off or if it was just an opportunity to give the young man some minutes at this level, but Yamashita’s debut didn’t go as planned. He committed a costly turnover in the second half and missed badly on an attempted cross from inside the box in the first half. All things which are forgivable during your first start but it didn’t help that Ryukyu are operating with a makeshift back line with all the injuries. There has been no word on the status of Numata as of this entry.
2. Limited chances. Ryukyu had roughly four good chances to crack the Sagamihara goal but the closest, and last best, chance they had was a 70’ minute shot by Yong Jick that hit the crossbar. Ryukyu never really threatened the Sagamihara goal nor tested their keeper. Unlike SC Sagamihara who were gifted some short counterattacks in the first half that called Inose into action on more than one occasion. Sagamihara’s second half goal stemmed from a set piece in a dangerous area where the Sagamihara attacker had a wide-open shooting lane to catch Inose out. In Inose’s defense, he may have been screened by all the players in front of him and unable to see the shot being set up. Or he thought the Sagamihara player might attempt to cross it into the box. Either way, it was a nicely worked goal.
3. The roadmap to defeating Ryukyu. It seems Ryukyu’s game plan for any given match is to let the opposition run at them so as to create a back-and-forth match for which our attack can freely operate. If the opposition simply parks the bus and aspires to hit us on the counterattack, teams will have great success. Higuchi, as well as a couple of players, commented after the game how it was hard to break down SC Sagamihara when they were putting five defenders inside the box and four others just behind the ball. We’ve seen this before from several teams that faced Ryukyu this season and the results are always the same. I am not sure how you overcome this situation other than adding speed and height to the attack by switching to a back three during the game and trying to win set pieces in dangerous areas with bold runs that could draw fouls or at least earn a corner kick.
4. This Summer gonna hurt. In 2019, when Ryukyu were trying to stave off relegation, not earn promotion, they went through a brutal stretch over the summer months where they won twice, drew twice and lost eleven games, five of which were in a row. So far things are slightly better this time around as Ryukyu have three wins, two draws and a single loss in the summer months to date. But Ryukyu has only managed two more points (15) over the last three months combined compared to the month of April (13). I was hoping we could squeak by with some results until a majority of our players return from injury but I am not sure their reintroduction will come soon enough. It feels as if promotion is slowly slipping away.
5. Some good news. Ryukyu played their third game of the J-Elite League on Monday afternoon where they drew 2-2 with Kagoshima United. However, the bigger news was seeing both Okazaki and Dany Carvajal return to action. Not sure if either will make the roster next week, but it would be good to get both of them back into the lineup before the break.
6. Round 22 in J2
Jubilo Iwata was able to pull out a draw on the road to Renofa Yamaguchi with Kyoto Sanga FC winning comfortably on the road at Giravanz Kitakyushu and Albirex Niigata demolishing Tochigi SC at home. Ventforet Kofu, Montedio Yamagata and FC Machida Zelvia all won their fixtures to get that much closer to the leading pack.
7. Conclusion
Putting this one in the rearview mirror is all you can do I suppose. FC Ryukyu now need to travel to Omiya Ardija and grab three points before the break or risk falling completely out of the promotion picture. Sure, they could surprise us all after the break with big results in the months of August and September – which would definitely make us forget about this recent run of from – but will it be enough?
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