Intro
FC Gifu and FC Ryukyu limp into this match after both suffered 1-0 defeats during match day 4. It is the first time since 2019 that these sides will square off where FC Gifu own a perfect record against FC Ryukyu with four wins from four matches. FC Gifu defeated FC Ryukyu by identical score lines of 2-1 (2019) in the J2 and 1-0 (2007) while they were together in the JFL. FC Ryukyu must recover, regroup and rearm quicky if they are going to do something they’ve never done before. Defeat FC Gifu.
Team Previews
FC Gifu: A lot of the discussion about FC Gifu this offseason centered on Gifu’s youth movement in an attempt to revitalize the club which is now in its fourth consecutive year in J3. So far it has paid off for FC Gifu as they’ve got some good performances out of Ryo Kubota (22) and Charles Nduka (24). FC Gifu, like FC Ryukyu, are also awaiting the return of several players from injury to perhaps jump start a run of form. What should be of concern to many FC Ryukyu fans is that Ryukyu seems to be taking a similar path/approach that FC Gifu embarked upon during their first three seasons in J3, which obviously didn’t pay off.
FC Gifu own a perfect record at home this year with a draw and a win, and those were against Matsumoto Yamaga and Kagoshima United FC, teams that many tipped to finish near the top of the table come November. Gifu will now get their third test in a row at home with another potential candidate for promotion in FC Ryukyu, but some of Ryukyu’s recent results call into question whether or not Ryukyu can be considered a strong bet for promotion these days. For FC Gifu it is nice to get some early points at home against tougher opponents, and to get some of those fixtures out of the way before teams round into form, but the unseen cost associated with this is Gifu’s away fixtures to close the season look quite tough at the moment.
Gifu started the season with back-to-back 1-1 draws with Kitakyushu and Yamaga. Then secured their first win, a 1-0 victory over Kagoshima, while most recently losing 0-1 to Vanraure Hachinohe on the road. The Hachinohe fixture was a bit of an unlucky one for Gifu as they hit the post once, hit the crossbar once, and had a deflected shot hit the diving Hachinohe goalkeeper in his leg. So just like FC Ryukyu, FC Gifu aren’t scoring a lot of goals but they also do not concede many goals from open play, which is unlike FC Ryukyu. The one area of perceived weakness for FC Gifu that I saw in their highlights is set pieces, corner kicks in particular, as that is where two of the three goals Gifu have conceded this season have stemmed from. Good thing for Gifu that corner kicks aren’t, and havn’t been for some time, an area of strength for FC Ryukyu.
FC Ryukyu: There are only two things that FC Ryukyu need to do at the moment: (1) Kuranuki needs to get the offense scoring and, (2) Taguchi needs to stop putting FC Ryukyu in deficits. Not as easy as it sounds with so many key players missing due to injury and with Taguchi in a crisis of confidence. Kuranuki has to find a way to get this team creating better chances and link up play with our forwards despite the numerous real injuries and unexplained absences at Ryukyu. Meaning, better in game management resulting in Takuma Abe and Ryunosuke Noda getting on the scoresheet if they are to get past FC Gifu. We should also hope that Noda doesn’t pick up his fourth consecutive yellow card in as many matches as he his toying with suspension with Ryukyu down to just two healthy forwards this week.
As far as goals scored are concerned for Ryukyu, they seem to happen right around halftime with four of the five goals for Ryukyu this season occurring within 3 minutes, or less, on either side of the break. I don’t think FC Ryukyu will go out there on Saturday and light up Gifu like I thought Ryukyu would do against Fukushima last week. Though the reintroduction of Kelvin to the lineup (sort of have that on good word) could at least help generate some opportunities that Ryukyu seemed to lack during the games he was out. Keep in mind a lot of this hinges on Ryukyu’s ability to connect passes through the middle third of the pitch which is where they struggled last week with turnovers while facing a Fukushima press when attempting to play it out from the back.
For Taguchi, he needs a steady stream of successes. Not one that starts following a mishap or mistake that seems to finally wake him up and in doing so forces Ryukyu to play from behind. Which is exactly what happened during FC Ryukyu’s past 3 matches. It will not rest solely on the shoulders of Taguchi to win this game, as our defenders also need to do their part, but we are basically talking about Taguchi having a near perfect game while displaying the leadership you’d expect from your GK.
While in defense FC Ryukyu must watch out for FC Gifu’s ability to lure opponents high up the pitch only to break free with a nice, long, through ball to Kubota down the right side. Thank goodness Kubota plays on that side as FC Ryukyu are particularly weak when defending down their right side as evidenced by the goals they’ve conceded this season. Speaking of goals conceded, three of the four goals FC Ryukyu have surrendered this year occurred in the first half of games. FC Gifu have scored two of their three goals in the first half to date, and Gifu look very lively during that part of the match which makes for yet another area of concern for FC Ryukyu.
So there it is, a simple game plan for FC Ryukyu on Saturday: get the forwards involved and scoring, get a good clean game from Taguchi, break any Gifu press – that so many other teams in the league have already shown works really well against Ryukyu – with better play through the middle part of the pitch, watch the long balls by Gifu that splits the defense, and win the first half.
Round 5 in J3
(1) Matsumoto Yamaga face (4) Gainare Tottori in the marquee matchup for round 5 of the J3. But you’ll have to wait until Sunday to see that fixture, along with 7 other fixtures scheduled for that day. (5) Kataller Toyama travel to (19) FC Osaka to start this round on Saturday followed by the FC Gifu and FC Ryukyu match. (3) Iwate Grulla Morioka travel to (18) Fukushima United who are fresh off their win over FC Ryukyu last week and we can only hope Fukushima keep the good times rolling at home.
(3) FC Imabari may have a tougher than expected fixture on their hands when (11) Nara Club head to town. Imabari will have to contend for the next few months without their talisman, Kazaki Nakagawa, who fractured a bone in his leg. (17) SC Sagamihara will play (15) Azul Claro Numazu at home in an all important 6-pointer at the current bottom of the table. And finally, (20) Y.S.C.C. will head out on the road against (13) AC Nagano Parciero in hopes of grabbing their first win of the season. Both Y.S.C.C. and Nagano surrendered leads late in their games last week resulting in draws for both teams so it will be interesting to see which side responds from that adversity this week.
Conclusion
Winning one, drawing one, losing one is not the key to success in this league. Whether or not you feel Ryukyu were unlucky against Imabari at the very end of the game, there is no escaping the fact that Ryukyu didn’t help themselves out at all last week against Fukushima. It is still early on in the season with Ryukyu just one point off the leaders but they cannot risk falling behind the leading pack. Especially not with what is, or maybe once was, considered a good stretch of games for FC Ryukyu against teams that are struggling. The reality is Ryukyu are struggling at the moment, and require an uplifting performance in the form of a road win to gain some ground and regain some confidence. Remember what I said a couple of weeks ago in that teams who’ve been promoted from J3 usually own the best away records in the league for that season? Yeah, well FC Ryukyu need to crack on with the away results this week. Come on boys!
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