Intro
Ryukyu find themselves in the middle of one of their toughest stretches of games this season, with many fans questioning the longevity of their beleaguered manager Kina, while rolling out some rather uninspiring performances the last six weeks. A couple of weeks ago I talked about the importance of looking at results of the team both preceding and following lengthy losing streaks. Ryukyu snapped the losing streak at four games, but seem to be headed down a similar path once more. On the other hand, Sendai are looking to rebound from their recent loss and continue their push upwards inside the promotion zone.
Weather Forecast & Match Day Information
Decent weather forecast with no calls for rain. Over to you @tpen18
Match Day Info from Vegalta Sendai
Team Previews
Vegalta Sendai: Sendai started the season out in good form by going undefeated in their first five matches. Since then, they’ve suffered three losses, with a pair of wins, in their bid to make it back to the J1. They lost last week at Yokohama FC after securing the lead in the first half. But a pair of goals from Koki Ogawa within a span of four minutes swung the momentum in Yokohama’s favor.
Sendai’s two wins also saw them scoring early in games but they were able to hang onto leads in those matches. In the losses prior to the pair of victories Sendai surrendered three (3) goals in consecutive weeks. Their performances seem to be a bit all over the map this season, but I’d take that any day compared to what we are experiencing here at Ryukyu. Sendai have recorded three shutouts this season, but none since match day 4. They’ve also allowed their opponents, in which some could have been meaningless times of the match, to score two or more goals five (5) times. This is likely a very nice ‘get back on track’ game for Sendai with an opponent not offering up much resistance these days.
FC Ryukyu: “Uh-Oh, we’re in trouble. Somethings come along and burst our bubble. Yeah-Yeah.” I cannot get that 90s JPOP song out of my head the last few days and it seems frighteningly poignant. Ryukyu are 0-1-4 over their last five games in which they’ve surrendered sixteen (16) goals while scoring seven (7) of their own. The only question these days seems to be how bad games will end for Ryukyu? Sure, stranger things have happened but based on past performances any outcome this weekend that isn’t disappointing seems a long way off.
The Hot Seat For Whom the Bell Tolls
Though all of Ryukyu’s troubles may not fall squarely on the shoulders of Kina, he will likely be the one that has to answer for the failings of the club. That is, if Ryukyu decide to move on. Clearly things are not going according to plan with the 1-2-7 record being the biggest indicator. How much longer will we need to wait for change? If change doesn’t occur, then what are we led to believe as fans? The clock is ticking and the window to recover the season is slowly closing. Perhaps Kina has been told by management that if he doesn’t win the next few games, he will be gone. But then again, we no nothing of the internal discussions at the club.
Round 11 in J2
A couple of matches already kicked off this week’s schedule with Zweigen Kanazawa defeating Oita Trinita on the road and Tokushima Vortis defeating Iwate at home to the tune of 5-0. There is another game kicking off today with Roasso Kumamoto hosting Fagiano Okayama before the big slate of games on Saturday. The lone Sunday game features Thespakusatsu Gunma hosting Blaublitz Akita which just so happens to be the free J-League International YouTube broadcast.
Conclusion
Not really expecting a lot from this game but I would like to see some aggression, passion, and a general sense of frustration at the way things are going from some of our players. I do care about whether or not we win, but if we don’t, I’d be perfectly content seeing a player run through a Sendai player, dusting him, just to earn a straight red card. At least we’d know they are alive and pissed off about their current situation.
ryukyuarmy.com 