Intro
Apparently I didn’t see the full picture last week when I mistakenly thought that the half step back that Ryukyu took at Imabari was actually just the beginning of a full on slip into a fall backwards for the club. FC Ryukyu lost 0-1 at home on Sunday to Fukushima United FC after putting in a less than inspired performance in what was a very winnable game. We can clearly see that the battle for promotion in J3 will be a dogged fight all season where FC Ryukyu must take advantage of teams in poor runs of form or risk finding themselves on the outside looking in come the end of the season.
Match Highlights
Talking Points
1. The Lineup: We finally saw the return of Koki Kiyotake to the lineup but at the expense of Mu Kanazaki being dropped. As always, no idea if that was a tactical decision or due to injury since there is so little information regarding the health of any of our players. FC Ryukyu dressed five of our college recruits along with 18-year old Tsusha last night. That doesn’t feel like they’re putting out the strongest lineup rather just what is available. The missing in action list as it currently stands following Match Day 4 for FC Ryukyu: Sulley, Kelvin, Kanazaki, Hitomi, Shirai, Yanagi, and Nakano (5/8 forwards on the roster are out or missing).
2. The Match: FC Ryukyu looked lethargic and fresh out of ideas when trying to breakdown Fukushima. They really lost this game in the middle third of the pitch with the amount of turnovers and sloppy play, especially from our two central midfielders. Ryukyu dodged an early bullet on a Fukushima breakaway that Taguchi managed to save, and with the subsequent rebound shot going wide, but were not so lucky a bit later on. More on that subject later.
Ryukyu eventually came to life in the waning moments of the match after the introduction of Kiyotake who had an open header go right at the Fukushima GK and another shot hit the post. But to be honest there wasn’t any significant adjustments by Kuranuki at the half that contributed to anything positive for Ryukyu. One could argue that any adjustments that Kuranuki did make at halftime benefited Fukushima more than Ryukyu as our opponents nearly doubled their lead on several occasions after the break while looking dangerous and with their tails up. Points dropped at home to a team on the slide isn’t a ringing endorsement for Kuranuki and one that will put him under the microscope a little more than he had hoped this early on. But knowing the club’s track record for instituting change, this will need to be a regular occurrence that can no longer be brushed off before it is addressed.
FC Ryukyu are not generating any offense, nor anything close to quantity and quality shots on net. Ryukyu seem to rely solely on the idea of one of their fullbacks bombing a ball forward in the hopes a forward player can run onto the end of it. Is this how the offense is supposed to flow? Strictly through our fullbacks sending in “prayer balls?” Just look at the amount of passes that were intercepted, turned over, or went out of bounds this game when attempting to break Fukushima’s press. A tactic that many of our opponents can easily employ against us, and one that will continue for the foreseeable future until Ryukyu figure out a way to turn large amounts of possession into goals.
3. Ryunosuke Noda: Didn’t really have much of an impact on this match outside of his angling to get an early send off with some of his ill-timed challenges. The worst being the cross on net when Noda rose for a header but opted to send the Fukushima goalie into the post instead. Indeed a card worthy infraction and Noda’s last contribution to the match for Ryukyu. I can understand the frustration some of our forward players may feel having little support or involvement in games but clearer heads need to prevail when times are rough so as not to put Ryukyu up against it for unnecessary reasons. Have to back up one’s persona with results or else it just looks comical.
4. The Taguchi Special: Junto getting his own section in this recap has become a regular occurrence, but for all the wrong reasons. For the third consecutive week Taguchi put FC Ryukyu in an early hole, one which they couldn’t recover from this time. Taguchi spilled a shot, having failed to corral it, right into a dangerous area that resulted in some panicky defending by Ryukyu, and of course during that fracas the ball found a Fukushima attacker. An ugly goal by every account but one that Fukushima desperately needed and one that Taguchi desperately couldn’t afford. With the indictments on Taguchi’s play increasing each week one has to wonder when, not if, Kuranuki will make the change at GK?
Round 4 in J3
Ryukyu missed a golden opportunity to move into sole position of first place as all the other fixtures had concluded at the time of their kickoff. Instead Ryukyu find themselves in 6th place trailing the teams above them by a single point. (3) Iwate Grulla Morioka required a late PK to muster a draw against (15) Azul Claro Numazu at home and (1) Matsumoto Yamaga FC surrendered a late goal to (16) Tegevajaro Miyazaki also resulting in a draw. (2) FC Imabari once again scored deep into a match but this time the goal resulted in a win over (14) Giravanz Kitakyushu. (8) Vanraure Hachinohe took the most direct route to goal from a single pass from their GK and deposited a blast from close range into the (12) FC Gifu net for their win.
Three of the more exciting fixtures this round all ended in a tie. (5) Kataller Toyama and (13) AC Nagano Parceiro finished 3-3 after Nagano jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second half and looked primed to push that lead to 4-1 when they lined up for a PK. But that is where things went sideways for Nagano as they missed the PK and then conceded two goals within four minutes near the end of the match. (4) Gainare Tottori scored two second half goals just 7 minutes apart and looked in total control of the game until (9) Kamatamare Sanuki scored twice inside five minutes at the very end. Finally, (20) Y.S.C.C. nearly notched their first win of 2023 before an own goal from a set piece ended their match with (11) Nara Club in a 2-2 draw.
Conclusion
No one was under the impression that FC Ryukyu were going to go undefeated all season, or even undefeated at home. But since the slider scale for how some view the club hasn’t moved all the way back to the side of ‘feeling good about the team,’ a performance like this will just engender more frustration from the fans. The only good news is the loss this week isn’t considered fatal at this point in the season and Ryukyu can recover from a minor setback with many other results in the league going in their favor this week. It is back to work for the club with an eye on grabbing some points at FC Gifu next Saturday.
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