Intro
It’s a good change! It’s a good change. Well, they didn’t lose, but FC Ryukyu once again surrendered a two (2) goal lead at home and then salvaged a 3-3 draw vs Fagiano this past Saturday night. Ryukyu are now off to their wort start to a season since, and I haven’t checked, their time in the J3. We know it isn’t going to be pretty trying to climb out of the cellar, but this side cannot afford to continue to drop points, especially at home.
Match Highlights
Takeaways from the Match
- No lead is safe with Ryukyu. For the second consecutive home game Ryukyu managed to squander a two goal lead. I am sure there were some at the club, including all of the fans in attendance, that thought there is no way we can have a repeat of events the last time we had a two goal lead. And yet, there we go. 15 goals conceded in 4 games. The point gap widening is one thing, we now face the risk of losing a relegation battle between other teams based on goal differential. The defense needs to be fixed somehow, someway, and soon.
- We have our moments, but they are fleeting. We could do damage. We could be good. But we are not at the moment. We score off turnovers, yet commit the same mental errors to allow our opponents to score. I still don’t know how you suffer the same fate at home by giving up the momentum killing goal just before halftime. Each goal conceded seems to really rock Ryukyu these days.
- Enjoyed the Uesato FK goal. Straight out of the top drawer and into the top corner.
- The losing streak has come to an end. Now we need to round into some sort of form as Ryukyu have six (6) matches in their next twenty three (23) days. If we cannot start winning, it becomes extremely difficult to believe Kina makes it out of the month of May as manager of FC Ryukyu.
Round 09 in J2
Roasso Kumamoto handed Tokyo Verdy their first loss of the season and Yamaguchi couldn’t pull off the comeback against 10-men Sendai. Omiya’s pains continue with both them and Ryukyu squarely entrenched in the relegation zone. No change at the top of the table as both Verdy and Zelvia lost but Yokohama FC also didn’t win as they lost the early lead with a very late goal at JEF to finish in a draw.
Conclusion
The late goal scored by Ryukyu should at least provide a boost of confidence heading into this weekends matchup. I also thought the same thing right after the Renofa Yamaguchi match where we then proceeded to lose four games in a row. We are very much a first half team this season with some of our fast starts that somehow seems to fade in games when it matters most. Sometimes we can pull off some moments of brilliance at the end of games but that has been the rare occasion more than the norm this year. Hard to believe we are at the point where games are becoming ‘must wins’ for Ryukyu, however, I think that is where we are at right now.
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