Tag: Ehime FC

Match Day 13 Report: (18) Ehime FC vs (2) FC Ryukyu #FC琉球

Photo Credit: @fcr_info

Intro

Well that hurt! Short on rest and visiting fans, FC Ryukyu made it out alive on MD 13 with a 1-1 draw at Ehime FC. The overarching theme for the night was tired legs. Higuchi opted for the same set of players that played 48 hours prior when he really should’ve rotated the squad a bit. This was a golden opportunity to gain some ground on leaders Albirex Niigata as well as keep Kyoto Sanga at bay but it be like this sometimes. On one hand, FC Ryukyu were lucky to have Niigata draw but on the other, Kyoto closed the gap between them and Ryukyu to just one point after their 1-0 win against Montedio Yamagata. It was also the first time this season that Ryukyu failed to win following either a loss or a draw.

  1. Match Day Highlights
  2. Man of the Match
  3. Review of the Keys to Victory
  4. Prediction
  5. Talking Points
  6. Round 13 in J2
  7. Conclusion

1. Match Day Highlights

2. Man of the Match

Ehime FC DF Taishi Nishioka. Why not? I thought for sure that Ryukyu were going to have their way with him but it was Taishi’s clearance on a ball headed right at Koya that prevented Ryukyu from scoring.

3. Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu

1. Exploit Taishi Nishioka at CB. Likelihood 5. It looked as if Ryukyu were going to have their way with Ehime early on but could only muster the single goal in the first half. Have to say no on this one.

2. Pile on the pressure. Likelihood 4. Early on yes, but it wasn’t sustained for the entire match so no. In fact, Ryukyu were out shot by Ehime.

4. Prediction

Tipped this one 2-0 in favor of Ryukyu. We’ll put that straight into the loss column. Season Record 6-2-5.

5. Talking Points from Round 13

1. Squad rotation, or better yet, the lack thereof. Higuchi admitted in his post-game comments that he should’ve rotated more players with such a quick turnaround between games. That doesn’t make it any better considering he was joking about how the players were attempting convince him to let them play in the days leading up to the match. You have to know your team, and the organization should’ve known what they could and could not get out of some of the veteran players on short rest.

For the most part, Ryukyu looked good as they were consistently penetrating the Ehime back line but were just off on the last pass to set guys loose. Maybe the plan was to grab a multiple goal lead and rotate players out starting at half time but that wasn’t the case. When Ryukyu did finally make a change, removing both Ikeda and Uesato, the attack stalled out. Furthermore, Higuchi dressed Yuya Torikai over the likes of Motegi and Nakagawa which is just baffling. Both of their fresh legs would have provided a huge boost to a side that was out shot and out possessed by Ehime. Speaking of legs, I hope the sight of Abe having a heavily shrink-wrapped right quad with an ice pack on his hamstring was more maintenance than injury related as he was the one player in the preview that I thought needed the rest the most.

2. There were plenty of misses right on the door step by both sides. For Ryukyu, the ones of note were the Chinen shot from inside the 6-yard box that was skied over the bar in the 41st minute that would’ve provided some massive breathing room for Ryukyu. Then there was the Shintaro header in the 72nd minute that went past the post. Ehime also had a couple of cracks at scoring when Kawamura whiffed on a shot that fell nicely to an onside Ehime player that put the header just over the goal. Truth be told, Ehime should’ve won the game in the 90th minute when Kondo was all alone at the back post and somehow missed the entire goal from about 2 yards out.

3. The goals. First, the Ryukyu goal. Koya was having a nice game this day and his cross may have initially been intended for Abe, but Abe once again doing everything but scoring in this match, executed a perfect dummy that let the ball roll to wide open Kiyotake who had all day to pick his spot.

The Ehime goal. Some might say the player came from an offside position, but from the angle below I don’t think that was the case. The attacker rightly repositioned himself in the defensive line and none of the Ryukyu defenders responded to a new player being inserted into their ranks.

4. One missed call. Maybe we have no room to complain about the actual Ehime goal, but I think the referee missed a clear hand ball in the 22nd minute when a Uesato cross bounced up and hit Toyama in the arm inside the box. There were some slight appeals for hand ball by Ryukyu, but they were not enough to persuade the referee to give the foul. Perhaps that just sounds like a disappointed Ryukyu fan making that out to be more than it actually was.

5. Houston, we may have a problem. This was the second consecutive match that Ryukyu could only muster 4 shots on target. While I thought, albeit incorrectly, that Ryukyu would produce shots and goals in this match similar to Sagamihara, not to Kyoto, I think a concerning trend is emerging. Ryukyu have now been held to under 4 shots on target in 5 out of their 13 games this season. They are averaging roughly 12 shots, with 7 on target, for the season but those numbers could be propped up by the Verdy (reduced to 10 men) and Sagamihara matches where Ryukyu had 18 and 14 shots on target.

For the season Ryukyu are averaging a goal every 7 shots/4 shots on target and I have no idea where that ranks compared to the rest of the league. The worrying trend seems to be the low number of shots on net over the past 5 weeks compared to the start of the season. Granted, there were two games earlier in the year, Iwata and Omiya, where Ryukyu generated only 2 shots on net. Perhaps it is normal for teams to experience these types of results or perhaps it can be attributed to playing Zelvia, Kofu and Kyoto, all of which are teams sitting inside the top 6 of the table.

6. Round 13 in J2

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As mentioned earlier, Albirex Niigata drew 0-0 at home to Matsumoto Yamaga with Kyoto Sanga FC defeating Montedio Yamagata 1-0. Ryukyu also received a bit of luck when both Jubilo Iwata and FC Machida Zelvia drew, though it was a tough draw for Blaublitz Akita against Iwata as the goal came deep into stoppage time preventing the hosts from bagging all 3 points. Ventforet Kofu won 2-0 which allowed them to leap frog Zelvia.

Elsewhere, JEF United Chiba grabbed their second win in a row while V-Varen Nagasaki won for the first time in four matches under their new manager. The much ballyhooed bottom of the table tilt between Thespakusatsu Gunma and Omiya ended in a 1 all draw after Gunma snatched a late equalizer in stoppage time resulting in both teams staying entrenched at the foot of the table.

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7. Conclusion

Once more we’ll need to put a match in the rear view mirror and move on. 16th Tochigi SC come to Okinawa this Saturday and Ryukyu need to take out some aggression out on this side with the extra day to prepare. The race at the top is really tight and Ryukyu cannot afford to drop anymore points with the match between Niigata and Kyoto looming large as well the Niigata/Ryukyu match at the end of the month.

Match Day 13 Preview: (19) Ehime FC vs (2) FC Ryukyu 5/08/21 #FC琉球

ehime fc versus fc ryukyu

Intro

No rest for the weary as FC Ryukyu travel to Ehime FC on Saturday for their third game in eight days. Both of these teams played to a 0-0 draw in the midweek and Ehime maybe slightly buoyed by the fact that they were able to earn a draw against fourth placed Jubilo Iwata. For Ryukyu, the opponent doesn’t represent the biggest challenge this week, it is the limited days in between games and possible fatigue that they’ll need to overcome.

  1. Weather Forecast and Match Information
  2. Previous Match Highlights
  3. Team Previews
    • Ehime FC
    • FC Ryukyu
  4. Keys to Victory
  5. Prediction
  6. Round 13 in J2
  7. Conclusion

1. Weather Forecast and Match Day Information from Ehime FC

Looks like favorable conditions for the match but visiting fans will not be able to attend.

Click>>> Match Day 13 Information from Ehime FC

2. Previous Match Highlights

Ehime FC 0-0 Jubilo Iwata
FC Ryukyu 0-0 Kyoto Sanga FC

3. Team Previews

Ehime FC: Ehime have a rather poor record overall against FC Ryukyu as they have yet to beat the guests during their time in J2. Ryukyu hold a 3-1-0 advantage over Ehime and who could forget the game last year when Ryukyu tore apart Ehime to the tune of 6-0. Granted, in a lost season with no fear of relegation, I highly doubt that many of the Ehime players were to concerned with that score line on match day 40. Ehime has gone through several player changes in the offseason in an attempt to avoid relegation but after failing to win in their first six games of 2021, they fired their manager and replaced him with Noritada Saneyoshi.

The move prompted a slight bump for Ehime as they drew the very next match before winning their first two games of 2021. However, the recent schedule for Ehime has not been kind as they will have played all four of the top sides in J2 in a row at the end of this round. So far that has included losses to Albirex Niigata and Kyoto Sanga and the most recent draw with Jubilo Iwata. The draw against Iwata was only the second time all season that Ehime has earned a clean sheet.

In their last five games Ehime FC has gone 2-1-2 with wins over Omiya Ardija and Matsumoto Yamaga who were either at or near the bottom of the table at the time of those games. They then recorded two straight losses to Niigata and Kyoto before earning a draw this past round. Whatever bump in performance Ehime was experiencing before this recent gauntlet seems to have receded.

Against Omiya, Ehime took advantage of an early goal and then some bad luck for Omiya as the hosts should have scored near the end. All three of the goals Ehime scored versus Yamaga were of the ugly sort. Sure, they all count, but we are talking a spilled ball, deflected goal and an initially stopped PK that fell right back to the PK taker from Ehime and scored on the rebound. Niigata looked slightly better against Niigata but couldn’t take full advantage of Niigata being reduced to 10 men and even conceded a second goal after the Niigata red card. They played up to their competition at Kyoto but the game was not as close as the 3-2 score line indicates. Finally, the water logged pitch at home to Iwata was Ehime’s greatest advantage as nobody could get anything going that day.

FC Ryukyu: Ryukyu have a very favorable schedule throughout the next three rounds but there is still the challenge of playing their third game in just eight days. There has to be some tired legs in the squad and Ryukyu almost certainly need to rotate some players this week. One place they could start is at FWD with Takuma Abe.

The Ryukyu striker hasn’t scored since JEF United Chiba, but he does so much for the club both offensively and defensively that this is no easy decision to sit Abe for a round. Especially when every point counts these days. He could sure use the confidence boost of getting back on the scorecard but I hark back to late 2020 when Abe completely disappeared from the roster for the last seven games with no word as to what was ailing him. I fear he could have been burnt out or suffering from some dead legs considering he played in 31 out of the 35 games prior to his absence. And if nothing else, he was given a rest for one game about this time last season. He is so vital to our success that we cannot afford to have him miss anytime due to injury or fatigue.

The same could be said about Uesato taking a break as we’ve seen Yu, Koki, Yong Jick and Ichimaru all play in the central midfield role this season. Personally, I think we need to get a long look at Ichimaru who has only featured in six games this season as a substitute. To continue on, due to loan restrictions, Kazaki Nakagawa couldn’t dress this past round and has only made one brief appearance at FC Machida Zelvia. It would be interesting to see how he is paired with Motegi up top as both are match fit and back to their fitness levels from years past.

It is not as if the Ryukyu offense is playing poorly, as most of the time they take full advantage of the limited opportunities they are afforded, and this week we should see a performance resembling something closer to SC Sagamihara than Kyoto Sanga. That depends largely on any squad rotation that does take place as a large amounts of changes will certainly disrupt whatever rhythm the starters have developed over the past twelve weeks, but it a necessary evil to rest some guys this round.

4. 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. Exploit Taishi Nishioka at CB. Likelihood 5. I’m giving this the highest rating any key to victory can have as Nishioka, the former Ryukyu man, is a converted RB playing CB. He was never known for his speed or defensive prowess and Ryukyu attackers should run circles around him on Saturday.

2. Pile on the pressure. Likelihood 4. FC Ryukyu should execute a similar game plan to Sagamihara on Saturday which means players should be flying all over the pitch into wide open shooting lanes. The only word of caution being that Ryukyu should not throw everything into the attack as they cannot gift any fast breaks to Ehime. It is not as if Ehime is particularly great on the counter attack, it’s just that Ryukyu don’t need to throw anything extra into the attack to exploit the Ehime defenders.

5. Prediction

FC Ryukyu have scored 2 goals against Ehime FC in all but one game in their history. 2-0 seems a reasonable score line for Saturday. Season Record 6-2-4.

6. Round 13 in J2

All Times Listed are in JST

Somehow (19) Ehime FC and (2) FC Ryukyu drew the short straw this round and are forced to play on 2 days rest vice 3 like every other team in J2. (1) Albirex Niigata welcomes in a resurgent (10) Matsumoto Yamaga that has pulled themselves out of the relegation scrap with three straight wins. (3) Kyoto Sanga should have an easier time with their opponent this week when (14) Montedio Yamagata come to town. After being shutout at Ehime FC last week, (4) Jubilo Iwata’s prospects for scoring doesn’t get any better when they travel to (8) Blaublitz Akita.

There is an important battle down the bottom of the table as the outcome of (21) Thespakusatsu Gunma vs (22) Omiya Ardija could put one of those sides in a very deep hole. The free J-League International YouTube broadcast will feature (9) Zweigen Kanazawa and (17) Renofa Yamaguchi FC.

Click>>> J-League International YouTube Channel

7. Conclusion

On short rest Ryukyu need to notch their 10th win of the campaign against an opponent heavily invested in the relegation battle. It is not the same situation when Ryukyu faced Sagamihara with Kyoto on the horizon as Ryukyu don’t face an opponent inside the top half of the table until Niigata at the end of the month. Ryukyu haven’t had a stretch of games like this since late March/early April when they faced JEF United Chiba, Omiya Ardija and Mito Hollyhock. Push past the fatigue, grab the win, and enjoy an extra days rest before Round 14.