Intro
Ryukyu pulled of an emphatic, and at the time, improbable win over Roasso Kumamoto this past Saturday evening thanks to two (2) goals on either side of halftime. Kumamoto entered the match with a five (5) game unbeaten streak and were the best road performing side in all of J2. That was only the second (2) loss for Kumamoto on the road all season to go along with only their second (2) loss in their last fourteen (14) matches! The win brings Ryukyu’s home victories up to two (2) this season but more importantly it is part of a five (5) game unbeaten run for FC Ryukyu in which they’ve accumulated nine (9) points and recorded three (3) clean sheets. While Kumamoto is sure to recover they do have the dubious honor of being the only side, to date, to be defeated by Ryukyu in both matches this year. Though let us not get ahead of ourselves as Ryukyu only have two (2) other teams on the remaining schedule that could also fall into this category. And I hope they do!
Match Highlights
Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
The Scale: 5- An almost certainty it will occur 4-Fairly-Certain it will happen 3-Somewhat Certain it could happen 2-Very Unlikely that it happens 1- Requires a Miracle for it to happen
1. ? Likelihood 0. I didn’t have a clue on any Kumamoto weaknesses that Ryukyu could’ve exploited from their last five (5) games, but, Ryukyu found a way, and that is all that matters.
Takeaways from MD29
1. Coming into the match there was concern among the Ryukyu faithful for who was going to feature after a small CV-19 outbreak hit the club in the mid-week. Just looking at the team this past week you could see Ryukyu were without their back up GK Taguchi, Nakagawa and Yong-Jick in defense, and Tanaka, Van Luan, and Fukumura in the midfield. Though Tanaka was seen at a promotional event prior to the match so no telling if his absence was tactical or due to an undisclosed injury. Ryukyu did see the return of Kelvin and Noda from their injuries as well as Sittichok Paso (MF) and Yusuke Murase (CB) both dressing for just the third time this season. Ryukyu only used a total of three (3) substitutes so perhaps some of the players on the bench were there for emergency purposes only. Nacho’s comments on Instagram following the match indicated Ryukyu were/are dealing with fourteen (14) players absent due to injuries, that probably includes the positive cases, which is almost unfathomable.
2. Ryukyu were once again limited in possession but they did make the most of their opportunities. Ryukyu were able to frustrate Kumamoto for much of the night who, despite having all that possession, had fewer total shots and shots on net than Ryukyu. Kumamoto had two clean looks on goal with the first being skied high over the net when Takahashi opted for power instead of placement, and the other being a blocked shot when the ball fell at the feet of the Roasso attacker with a Ryukyu defender in the area, on the ground basically, who was able to trap the shot.
The lone Kumamoto shot on frame came from distance in the first half that was right at Dany Carvajal who easily collected the ball. We really didn’t see some of the creativity this weekend that has been a hallmark for Kumamoto the past five weeks. It is now three (3) clean sheets for Dany Carvajal in his last five (5) matches. Consecutive clean sheets for on the second time this season as well.
3. A pair of the nicest goals we’ve scored all year. I commented to my friend during the match that it would be great if Ryukyu could get a goal in the last couple minutes of the first half and not even a minute later Abe put a lovely chip over the Kumamoto keeper. That goal stemmed from a long clearance by Dany that Sulley was able to head onto Abe who was making the run on goal. Ryukyu went the entire distance of the pitch with just three touches of the ball. But if you’ve been paying attention the past few weeks you would’ve noticed how good Dany is at finding Ryukyu players down the pitch with his clearances.
The second Ryukyu goal came shortly after the start of the second half when Nakano picked out Sulley in the box who rose to send a header into the bottom corner. It has been quite awhile since we’ve seen a goal like that, not to mention it has been nine (9) games since Ryukyu last hit the two goal mark in a match. Great to see Sadam Sulley open his scoring account for Ryukyu at home to go along with his assist on the Abe goal.
Match Day 29 in J2
Down Below: (21) Omiya Ardija lost on the road to (10) FC Mito Hollyhock but every other of the four (4) teams sitting in or around the relegation zone pulled off some dramatic results. (20) Thespakusatsu Gunma nearly pulled off the win after going ahead in the 15th minute against (14) Ventforet Kofu but a 82nd minute goal from the visitors ended the game in a draw. (19) Iwate Grulla Morioka’s 3-0 away thrashing of league leaders (1) Yokohama FC pushed them five (5) points clear of the relegation zone. Not to be outdone, (19) Blaublitz Akita matched Iwate’s 3-0 score line the following night on the road at (16) Zweigen Kanazawa.
Up Top: We already mentioned (1) YFC’s loss to (20) Iwate but (2) Albirex Niigata and (3) Vegalta Sendai could only inch one (1) point closer to the leaders as both their games ended in 2-2 draws to (4) V-Varen Nagasaki and (17) Renofa Yamaguchi. There wasn’t much shifting in the standings for any of the teams in the promotion zone, or anybody really, in a week where the ‘lower seeded’ teams seemed to get things over on the ‘higher seeds’ and with so many matches this round ending in ties.
Conclusion
I think every FC Ryukyu fan can agree that it was a long time coming to have those sorts of feelings when exiting the stadium on Saturday night. Ryukyu may have been putting in performances similar to the one on Saturday night under Nacho’s tenure but were finally vindicated with multiple goals and continued solid defending. Take another day or two to enjoy those feelings from an important win, but make no mistake, we have another important match this weekend. Kofu have never conceded a single point to Ryukyu while playing at home and it is naive to think that the teams around Ryukyu will continue to drop points and allow Ryukyu to stroll out of the relegation zone. This past week being a prime example. One match at a time, one step at a time if we want Ryukyu to climb out from the bottom.
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