Intro
FC Ryukyu failed to win at home for the third time this season and did so by the now all-too-familiar score line of 1-2. Things are not great at the moment and thankfully, or regrettably, FC Ryukyu have another game in quick succession to put this one out of their memory. Luckily for Ryukyu that game is on the road where they seem to be acquiring all their points these days.
Match Highlights
Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
1. Weather the early Mito storm. Likelihood 2. Mito were right on schedule with this one and hit their opening goal right at the 15 minute mark. Unbelievable that we knew this was coming and allowed Mito to dictate all of the early play. This is more infuriating than regrettable.
2. Harass Mito inside the box. Likelihood 3. The lone Ryukyu goal came within the box but they failed to follow that up with any sustained pressure.
Takeaways from MD 05
1. Despite owning a majority of the possession, it really didn’t feel like Ryukyu controlled the game from our view in the stands. Mito had ten corner kicks, of which it felt like 5-6 of those occurred within the opening 20 minutes of the first half and Ryukyu once more succumbed to the constant pressure from an opponent. On that note, opponents are probably content with allowing Ryukyu loads of possession as they cannot seem to do much with it other than pass it between the center backs and full backs.
2. Game was nearly over at the 18-minute mark. Mito scored a lovely goal in the 15th minute following a corner kick, which to his credit, Yong Jick defended as best he could. The problem was the rebound fell directly to a wide-open Mito player that sent a phenomenal shot into the top corner. Mito then had another corner kick just two minutes later that bounced off the crossbar and into a dangerous area inside the Ryukyu 6-yard box that was somehow cleared off the line.
3. Ryukyu cannot put teams away. While they were able to claw their way to victory last week, Ryukyu were not able to put Mito away with a second goal despite some good chances at the start of the second half. Failing to score the go-ahead goal led to a costly turnover inside the Ryukyu half and the eventual Mito winner. We saw something similar to this a few weeks ago against Iwate and out of the 450 or so minutes played this season, Ryukyu have led for just 69 total minutes.
4. Whole sale changes are probably warranted. Ryukyu need to find a spark somewhere and more importantly, sustain that momentum during games. Taguchi’s confidence is getting rocked by the constant turn style defending in front of him and perhaps he needs a break. The Ryukyu attack just isn’t producing the goals and I am not sure where they turn to find the answer. Perhaps the introduction of some players who rarely feature is a start but the one player we would’ve liked to see up top, Sittichok Paso, has left for international duty during our goal scoring drought.
5. Kina’s seat is officially getting hotter. Kina has been in charge of Ryukyu for 13 matches dating back to 2021 and owns a 4-5-4 record with a 16:17 goals scored/conceded ratio. His record last season was far better after inheriting Higuchi’s squad but that was at a time when Ryukyu had no fear of relegation or promotion. We all wanted to see what Kina could do when given an entire offseason, and ability to bring some of the players he wanted, and so far the results are not good. Maybe the management gives Kina another 5-6 games to see if he can get the club moving in the right direction but that includes games against 5 teams that currently sit inside the top 6 positions of the table. What can we really expect from Ryukyu, and Kina, during these games?
Round 05 in J2
Albirex Niigata earned their first win of the year; Kanazawa surrendered a two goal lead before pulling out the victory on the road at Akita; and the much ballyhooed games between Okayama/Yokohama and Verdy/Zelvia ended in a 1-1 draw and 2-1 win for Verdy. As mentioned by @JTalkETJon from the JTET Pod Cast, it is still too early to tell what will shake out for the promotion, and relegation battles, but we should be seeing the signs of who are the real contenders and pretenders this season.
Conclusion
Ryukyu struggled mightily on the road during the 2019 season and it seems those fortunes have been reversed this year with Ryukyu struggling for points at home. Attendance has been on a steady decline the past two games and will probably not pick back up until Ryukyu start stringing together some better results at home. It sort of feels like we are adrift at sea with little idea of how to turn things around.
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