Intro
We are back for the fourth year of this blog but under very different circumstances from when I started this thing. FC Ryukyu are competing in the J3 for the second time, first time since 2018, after crashing out of the J2 in 2022. Some might say this is familiar territory for Ryukyu considering they spent five (5) seasons in J3 before earning promotion, but I’m sure the J3 has changed quite a bit since the last time Ryukyu were here. The task is simple: promotion. The path, however, will not be easy. Ryukyu have a new manager, new players, new sporting director with some familiar faces still in the squad, but face a bevy of questions concerning their set up, tactics, ability to perform under pressure and the overall strength of their competition this year.
Team Previews
FC Ryukyu: The landscape of the J3 has changed a lot since the last time FC Ryukyu plied their trade in the third tier of Japanese football. Gone are the whipping boys of the U-23 sides from FC Tokyo, Gamba Osaka, and Cerezo Osaka that provided a tasty three-points-as-long-as-you-don’t-mess-it-up-matchup. Akita, Fujieda, Gunma are all playing in the J2 and best of luck to them (really just Akita). There are some familiar faces from seasons past in FC Gifu, Kagoshima United FC, Giravanz Kitakyushu, Ehime FC, Matsumoto Yamaga FC, and Grulla Iwate Morioka. There are some teams Ryukyu hasen’t seen since 2018: Gainare Tottori, Fukushima United, Azul Claro Numazu, AC Nagano Parciero, Kattalar Toyama, and Y.S.C.C. Finally, a bunch of new teams FC Ryukyu will face for the first time ever in: FC Imabari, FC Osaka, Nara Club, Kamatamare Sanuki, Tegevajaro Miyazaki and our Match Day One opponents, Vanraure Hachinohe.
So where do FC Ryukyu fit inside that lot this year? Great question and we all know that Match Day One rarely tells us much about any club. You’ll recall the fast starts from Ryukyu in 2019 and 2021 that had us all believing survival in J2 could happen (it did) and promotion is a real possibility (it was not). That means we may not know much about this side until about the 1/4 mark of the season and hopefully by then we are seeing a true contender and not some plastic pretender. All eyes will be on new manager Kazuki Kuranuki, the starting eleven he rolls out, the formation, the tactics, and the in-game management to start the 2023 campaign.
FC Ryukyu have a condensed timeline this year, 38 games in J3 compared to 42 in J2, to pull themselves back up to J2. That means the club, which last year displayed an inability to adjust to the shifting landscape of J2 and make the timely/necessary changes at the top, must not make business decisions personal to their detriment. If Kuranuki is not up to task, he must go, and must go early so as to preserve enough time to recover and secure promotion. And though we are speaking of promotion only, relegation must not be ignored as this is the first year that promotion/relegation exists between J3 and the Japan Football League (JFL). I don’t want to show the “Fuck Around and Find Out Graph” to hammer this point home, and hope I never have to, but keep that in the back of your minds throughout the year.
That is where I am at as a Ryukyu fan these days following the fallout from last season. While I cannot speak for many of the other longtime supporters of the club, I feel they maybe thinking the same things. Restore the faith of the supporters through deeds and actions in the form of home wins (only 3 last season) and promotion. Funny how promotion is always a goal but seems to have taken on the notion of survival for FC Ryukyu these days. Especially with OSV breathing down Ryukyu’s neck as a newly promoted JFL side.
Onto the task at hand which is an opening day victory. Ryukyu had four months, two months of training after camp opened, to prepare for this game and one in which they need to make an early statement. That statement is getting Ryukyu out of the gate on the right foot. None of the supporters have the patience to watch more “Kina Ball” in the form of doing nothing with loads of possession, lacking creativity to create chances, and the absolute coup de grace, surrendering goals after the 75th minute and stoppage time resulting in dropped points.
OK. Time for some positivity. We still have Dany and to be quite honest, do you really bring a player of his quality back to a squad in the J3 – needing promotion – just to watch him rot on the bench? I don’t know but I am glad we have Dany on the books. Koki Kiyotake is back as well and if he can stay healthy, and at Ryukyu the whole season, he could be in for a massive (aka J3 MVP) season. Kelvin, after a good half season under his belt last year, and back to full game speed following the required recovery time from a previous knee injury, could be lethal for this team. Takuma Abe, just have to wait and see here. Sadam Sulley, are you kidding me? This dude could obliterate any of these teams, but patience might be required when expecting his debut this year as he to is recovering from a late season injury. Takuya Hitomi could breakout early as one of our best young players while some of our strikers get back to health. Yu Tomidokoro on set pieces again? Mmmmm, that sounds good, I’ll have that!
Vanraure Hachinohe: These two teams have never faced each other in any tier of Japanese football. With that in mind I guess all I can provide is a brief history about Hachinohe. Founded in 2006 after the merger between the Hachinohe Kogyo SC and Nango FC clubs, Hachinohe spent eight (8) years in the Tohoku Soccer League before achieving promotion to the JFL for the 2014 season. Hence the reason they and Ryukyu have never met as 2014 was the inaugural season in the J3 for FC Ryukyu. Another strange coincidence is that both Ryukyu and Hachinohe achieved promotion to the next tier of Japanese football in 2018 with Ryukyu winning J3 and promotion to J2 and Hachinohe earning promotion to the J3 after finishing third in the JFL. Assume Hachinohe’s promotion was based on the archaic J-League rules of licensing, stadium capacity and whatever else the gatekeepers of the J-League promotion board deemed worthy.
Hachinohe finished tenth (10th) their first year in J3, followed by two consecutive seasons near the bottom of the table in 2020 and 2021, while last year again finishing tenth (10th). 2019 was their best year when it came to scoring goals as Hachinohe bagged forty-nine (49) that season before a slight drop off in 2020 with forty-two (42), followed by a dramatic decline to only twenty-four (24) goals scored in 2021 with a marginal improvement up to thirty-two (32) last season. 2019 and 2022 were also Hachinohe’s best win tallies at fourteen (14) yet surprisingly only managed one (1) draw in 2022 enroute to their worst ever loss total of nineteen (19). I guess this indicates that so far Hachinohe has been a lower to mid table team their entire time in J3.
What to Watch MD 1
Lineup Selection, tactics, game management and the result. All of which are unknowns right now at FC Ryukyu. Who is healthy enough to start or feature? I have to assume we will not see Abe and Sulley MD1 with the knowns of Sho Hiramatsu and Shiryu Fujiwara both out with broken foots until April.
Will Taguchi start over Dany? I hope not but I feel this is coming and I am trying to prepare for what happens next if Taguchi does indeed start. Root for him to fail which means my club fails in turn, or hope he does well and see one of my favorite, and one of the club’s best players go unused because we finally have a defense in front of our goalie? Not the greatest thought experiment for any fan.
Ryunoske Noda is our captain and likely the starting striker. Knowing full well we need a double digit goal scorer and a few double digit point players to succeed, where will the goals come from? Can Noda produce as is required for that position in a make or break season at age 34 having only scored a maximum of 6 goals in any year (2013) of his career? Can recently signed Mu Kanazaki, also 34 years old, regain some of the scoring magic from his 2017 & 2018 seasons?
What is our defensive set up and have we learned any hard lessons from the past four seasons in J2 knowing that relying solely on the offense to carry the day is not the key to success? The so called “exciting football approach” that many at the club promote each season that never really came to fruition outside of the early parts of the 2021 season. What will we do on set pieces? Some of these are more year-long than just week-one questions but you get my drift.
Round 1 in J3
There is no doubt every club wants to get off to a fast start with a MD1 win. But all these clubs are a relatively unknown to me and though each season teams rise and fall, who truly are the teams tipped for promotion/relegation in J3? Would you’ve tipped FC Ryukyu for relegation in 2022 after a 9th place finish in 2021?
Kagoshima (tipped by many), Yamaga (loads of pressure to get there), Imabari (loaded up in the offseason transfer window), Nagano (finally! but on the rise?), Ehime (?) are expected to be in the conversation for promotion. Gifu, a team in rebuild mode could be a surprising team with the likes of Tottori, YSCC, Numazu, Sagamihara, and new joins Nara and Osaka just looking to hang on for survival.
Conclusion
It has been 132 days since we last saw FC Ryukyu take the pitch. On that day they did at least manage to eek out a home win on the final match day of the season. Though it was bittersweet considering Ryukyu were already relegated at that point and had won just three (3) home games all last year. A home win on Saturday would go a long way to appease/assuage the loyal Bengara “sappo.”
I haven’t been this anxious for a home opener since 2019 so I am really looking forward to this one. See you out there in full support and in full voice finally, and thankfully!!!!
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