FC Ryukyu missed a great opportunity to add to their win total when they drew with Kitakyushu this past weekend. FC Ryukyu opted to start Taguchi over Dany Carvajal in net, as well as Torikai over Numata at LB, despite the long rest between fixtures for the incumbents. Though FC Ryukyu were able to grab the early lead, they squandered that lead within a matter of minutes when Kitakyushu equalized on a fast break. The draw drops FC Ryukyu down to 19th, while Giravanz remains entrenched at 4th.
I am not sure the was one. Neither side seemed like they wanted to win this game.
Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
1. Prevent short counter-attacks. Likelihood 2. No. FC Ryukyu were ripped open on a counter attack that led to the Giravanz goal.
2. Slow the pace of the game down to a crawl. Likelihood 3. I think FC Ryukyu did a decent job of this, but in doing so, they also limited their number of chances to score.
Match Day 35 Prediction
I thought this was going to be a much higher scoring affair, 3-2 to Giravanz, but it ended in a 1-1 draw.
Match Day 35 Takeaways
1. Ryukyu looked sluggish in their attack. The goal by Koki was set up really well by Koya and Tanaka but there were few chances to take the lead all night. The flurry of activity near the end of the game saw both Koki and Shinji Ono miss chances to grab a late winner and in the end, Ryukyu couldn’t put the game away.
2. Let’s hope the rotation of Torikai and Taguchi were temporary, not permanent, moving forward. Tanaka made a full match appearance and looked no worse for wear so I am glad he is back to match fitness for the final part of the season. Uehara’s absence the past few games is slightly concerning and I hope that was nothing more than some veteran rest he was receiving.
A loss by leaders Tokushima Vortis, coupled with a draw for Avispa Fukuoka, has brought 3rd place V-Varen Nagasaki within the 3 points of the promotion zone. Giravanz Kitakyushu, Albirex Niigata, and Ventforet Kofu have fallen off in what is now a 3-team race for the J1.
Giravanz didn’t require the services of their leading scorer in Disaro this past round and Ryukyu failed to get Abe firing. The most disheartening play of this match was the missed goal by Shinji Ono at the very end. Ono had a clean look on net, opted for placement over power, and his shot was parried by the Giravanz keeper to keep the score level. Had that shot gone in, Ryukyu would be sitting in 17th place on 12 wins instead of 19th.
FC Ryukyu will head to Iwata to take on (11) Jubilo in the midweek before returning to face (7) Tokyo Verdy to close out November. So far FC Ryukyu have gone 3-1-2 in November, and it has been by far their toughest month of the season based on the strength of their opponents, and the distance traveled in the middle parts of the week. One last note, Manager Yasuhiro Higuchi has been extended through the 2021 season for FC Ryukyu.
Surprise winners this past round, FC Ryukyu will look to extract some revenge from the 4-0 drubbing they suffered at the hands of Kitakyushu back on match day three. That win for Kitakyushu ignited an impressive run that brought them to the pinnacle of the table as they jumped 17 spots in a matter of weeks. However, Giravanz couldn’t maintain their grasp on the lead and have slowly tumbled out of the promotion conversation. They will look to get back into that conversation quickly this week with a win over FC Ryukyu.
Match Day 34 Highlights: FC Ryukyu v V-Varen Nagasaki (1-0)
FC Ryukyu: FC Ryukyu carry a 3-game home unbeaten streak into this match with an overall record of 5 wins, and 5 losses, in their past 10 games. It seems odd that FC Ryukyu haven’t drawn a match in over 10 weeks and I wouldn’t expect one this round either.
With a full five days rest in between fixtures, I would expect FC Ryukyu to field one of their stronger sides on Saturday. Abe will hopefully lead the line while looking to add to his 13-goal tally. Behind him should be the combination of Kawai, Koya, Koizumi, Uesato and Koki. In defense, it is likely that Tanaka can return to his fulltime role at RB, with Numata on the left. I am not sure of the CB pairing though as Higuchi has rotated Suzuki and Yong Jick for Fukui the past few rounds. And this is definitely a match for Dany Carvajal to return to the lineup.
With only 8 games left in the 2020 season, and not much left to play for other than pride and a 2021 contract, I’d like to see some of the players who couldn’t quite get it going this year, generate some momentum heading into the 2021 offseason. It was nice to see Kawai back on the score sheet this past week as he has yet to really string together strong performances this year. Motegi is another name that needs a boost in confidence as he was one of our marquee signings this past offseason, but has yet to reach his full potential here in Okinawa.
Giravanz Kitakyushu: Kitakyushu’s fall from the top began back on match day 21 with a 3-0 loss at home to Mito Hollyhock. They then went on a 9-game winless streak that dropped them to 4th in the table before finally earning a victory on the road at Zweigen Kanazawa.
I am not quite sure what caused the massive drop off in goals scored for this side as they were averaging around 2 goals scored each game before the Mito loss. But Giravanz has seemed to fix that problem with 9 goals scored in their last 5 games. Just in time too, as they will look to embark on an end of season run to the #2 slot in J2 with a very favorable schedule outside of a tilt with leaders Tokushima Vortis.
Disaro, Takahashi, and Machino lead the attack for Giravanz and they are a formidable front line. Giravanz a very persistent side despite some of the recent set backs that has dropped them out of the promotion race as they can press hard for goals and rarely tire. They bided their time against Tochigi this past week, earned a win, and absolutely hammered Ehime before that. Though their away record has been poor the last 5 rounds, that was mainly due to facing some of the tougher teams in J2.
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. Prevent short counter-attacks. Likelihood 2. Though I’d like to believe FC Ryukyu will control the pace and possession of this game, I also thought the same thing when these two teams faced off earlier this year where Kitakyushu dominated the possession and chances. FC Ryukyu cannot afford to turn the ball over in our own end tomorrow. Unfortunately, Ryukyu are very prone to doing just that. Turnovers will allow Giravanz to strike quickly by stretching our defense which could lead to large goal deficits. Yong Jick is notorious for giving the ball away at inopportune times so limiting his touches tomorrow is key.
2. Slow the pace of the game down to a crawl. Likelihood 3. Giravanz have the ability to light up the scoreboard and they seem to be getting back to their free scoring ways. FC Ryukyu, unlike the first time these two teams played, need to maintain large spells of possession and force Kitakyushu into making some mental mistakes out of frustration. If the game maintains a frenetic pace, then Kitakyushu will hurt them on the break. If FC Ryukyu can bide their time, blunt the initial Kitakyushu onslaught, and create some chances of their own, they could pull out the win.
Match Day 35 Prediction
FC Ryukyu will need to approach this game much like they did against Nagasaki. Giravanz absolutely shredded our defense the last time out so this could easily turn into a shootout on Saturday. 3-2 to Giravanz.
Match Day 35 in J2
Both (1) Tokushima Vortis, and (2) Avispa Fukuoka, face some stiff tests this week as they face (10) Kyoto Sanga FC and (7) Montedio Yamagata. Perhaps this a chance for (3) V-Varen Nagasaki to make up some ground on the leaders when they travel to face (15) JEF UTD Chiba.
Seeing how Giravanz has the slightest chance at promotion this year, it would be nice to see FC Ryukyu derail another side’s aspirations before closing out their 2020 campaign. But this will be no easy task. In fact, it represents another “no-win situation” for FC Ryukyu. Much like name of the Giravanz Kitakyushu manager, and scenario made famous by the Star Trek films, the Kobayashi Maru for Higuchi and the boys will be a tough one tomorrow.
*Standings in parentheses were prior to Sunday’s results and reflect were the two sides were in the table after Saturday 07/04
Introduction
There is no way to sugar coat the result. FC Ryukyu were outplayed in every facet of the game and were left completely decimated by Kitakyushu on Saturday. I for one was expecting a similar type of result, in favor of FC Ryukyu that is, and thus left flabbergasted with the outcome. There really is no excuse for allowing 4 goals inside of 45 minutes. and this leaves many of us to wonder, how could a side play so well in their previous two matches only to come completely unhinged against a perceived lesser opponent? This leads to two important questions. Where was the attack and possession we’ve become so accustomed too this year? And what needs to change so this doesn’t happen again?
Match Recap
Man of the Match
Review of the Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
Match Day Prediction
Match Day 3 Takeaways
Match Day 3 in J2
Top Goals from Match Day 2
Conclusion
1. Match Recap
Sloppy. That is the only word that can accurately describe FC Ryukyu’s performance this weekend. There were dozens, literally not figuratively, of turnovers by FC Ryukyu and they occurred in all areas of the pitch. Turnovers derailed our forward momentum, disrupted our buildup play, ended all of our attacks, and provided Giravanz with short attacking vectors in our end.
If you only glanced at the score line it would be natural to assume that our GK was not up to par this match, but that was not the case. Dany stood on his head for most of the game, making save after save to keep FC Ryukyu in the competition, before the levy finally broke.
2. Man of the Match
FC Ryukyu GK Dany Carvajal: I cannot stand to re-watch this match to pick out a player from Kitakyushu who may have been the ideal choice so instead I’ll say it was Dany Carvajal. He made some great saves in the first half to keep the score line level while we limped throughout the match.
3. Review of the Match Day 3 Keys to Victory for FC Ryukyu
1. Isolate/Mark MF Daigo Takahashi. Likelihood 2: He didn’t make the score sheet but with all the turnovers by FC Ryukyu I really couldn’t tell how he influenced the match on Saturday.
2. Capitalize on set pieces. Likelihood 4: We certainly did not score nor did we create many chances to put us in a position to score.
4. Match Day Prediction
I said, albeit foolishly, that FC Ryukyu would win 3-0 and instead we got pasted 0-4.
Overall yearly record drops to 0-1-2 with a loud thud!
5. Match Day 3 Takeaways
1. FC Ryukyu are unsettled, and at times, out of sorts at the back. All four of Kitakyushu’s goal came right through our central defense. The same problem that plagued us for much of 2019 is rearing its very ugly head once again. Highuchi stuck with Fukui at CB and I am sorry, we are not a good defensive side when he is in there. Since we have no idea what prompted the switch from Higuchi it is even more vexing. Maybe someone with a better tactical eye for the game than me can say whether or not our central defenders were constantly out of position, making poor decisions on where to cover, and when to leave their man, which constantly left Dany exposed.
It is time to give Suzuki, or Okazaki, another crack at the starting CB role as it is clearly not working with the current CB pairing.
2. Turnovers killed us this game. FC Ryukyu played so poorly this match that it was like watching a completely different team from the prior weeks. Some of the turnovers can be attributed to early season mishaps and some as things that will naturally happen during any given match, but most were inexcusable. These turnovers meant that FC Ryukyu could never generate any real threat on the Kitakyushu goal.
3. The lineup needs an overhaul. There are many points here so it is best that bulletize them:
– FC Ryukyu really miss Kawai’s speed down the left. Koya is a fine player in his own right but we don’t have the ability to get in and around the opposition’s flanks right now without Kawai.
– Abe is starting to feel the same pain that Koji Suzuki experienced last year. He can become isolated up top when we cannot make accurate passes, nor maintain possession, in the attacking half of the pitch to put him in goal scoring opportunities.
– Yamaguchi is probably better suited as a FWD than a CM and needs to relieve Abe or Uehara this year. Yamaguchi works his butt off but maybe he isn’t the player to fill the role vacated by Nakagawa some 18 months ago. I also think it is time Ren Ikeda had another shot at orchestrating our attack as Motegi, Kawai, Koya, Yu and Tanaka are better players with a mid-field general. What do we have to lose at this point?
– Torikai had a very rough outing last match and that happens from time to time but I think we are a better attacking team with Tavares at RB. Look at the small sample size we have and you can see that Tavares generated more in the attack than Torikai while defending at a high rate. I’m sure we will see Tavares again with such a tight fixture schedule.
– CBs Suzuki, or Okazaki at the very least, should be starting over Fukui. I appreciate Fukui’s versatility to play all 4 defensive positions, which warrants a position on the bench each match, but we need a solid CB pairing moving forward. Yong Jick and Suzuki did well against JEF to open the season but since then there has been a steady decline in performances at the back. Just look at all the space that Kitakyushu had to operate with in our own end. How on earth can players be that wide open to receive a cross or take shots?
6. Match Day 3 in J2
Some interesting result this past weekend. JEF and Ehime’s impressive road wins by 3 goals each has propelled those two sides into the top 3. Ehime’s start of 2020 reminds me a lot of how FC Ryukyu started last year. Tons of goal in both directions with some exciting results.
The Niigata and Kanazawa goal fest was fun to watch. It seemed most of the goals from open play that game either took a deflection or had some weird bounce/element too them. Neither of Tokushima, Kyoto, Jubilo or Okayama could get past each other as the two games that many were watching to see if anyone could make a statement all ended in 1-1 draws.
Omiya remains top after beating last placed Gunma with V-Varen Nagasaki joining them after an impressive come from behind win over Kyushu rivals Avispa Fukuka.
7. Top Goals from Round 3
This week featured some well taken Free Kicks as well as some powerful headers, but there can only be 3!
#1 Taishi Taguchi from JEF UTD Chiba freezing the Mito goal keeper. (@ the 1:40 mark)
#2 Jun Suzukui from Avispa Fukuoka also making the difficult look easy from a free kick. (@ the :30 second mark in this clip)
#3 Atsushi Kurokawa’s header to start the scoring in Omiya. Watch the set up where he creates some space for himself and then sends a diving header past the Gunma keeper.
8. Conclusion
Anyone who follows a sports team knows that there are times throughout the year when your team lays an egg. It sucks, it hurts, and it often leaves you wondering how the team will respond. Unfortunately for FC Ryukyu, that egg couldn’t have occurred at a worse time as they were looking to notch our first win and now face four teams over the next three weeks that are all in the top half, top 7 actually, of the J2 table.
Should we be concerned? Yes. Is there anything that can be done? Yes, change the lineup. More importantly, should we worry? No. Since there is no fear of relegation in 2020 FC Ryukyu should keep one eye on the future while trying to maximize the talent they have on this years roster. We all know that some of these guys won’t be around in 2020, and if we struggle for results this season – which would erase any notions of promotion – then it is imperative we give the younger players more playing time.
With that, let’s closeout one of the worst performances we’ve seen from FC Ryukyu in quite some time and look forward to hosting Tokushima Vortis next Saturday (with fans!).
We are off and running in the J2 with FC Ryukyu earning their first point of the year last week against Avispa Fukuoka. This week’s opponent, Giravanz Kitakyushu, were recently promoted to J2 after winning the J3 in 2019. These two sides last met back in 2018 where FC Ryukyu did the double over Kitakyushu, who ended up finishing bottom that year, while FC Ryukyu went on to lift the J3 title. It is safe to say that these are not the same two sides who met back in 2018 with both looking to notch their first J2 victory of the 2020 campaign this weekend.
Weather Forecast
Match Day 2 Review: Giravanz Kitakyushu
Match Day 2 Review: FC Ryukyu
Team Previews & Injury Report
FC Ryukyu Keys to Victory
Match Prediction
Match Day 3 Around J2
J-League English Content
Conclusion
1. Weather Forecast
It looks like it will rain all weekend with showers expected during the match. Going to be nasty out there in Kitakyushu this weekend.
2. Match Day 2 Review: Giravanz Kitakyushuvs. V-Varen Nagasaki
Giravanz lost to V-Varen Nagasaki 2-1 in a very wet, very nasty, and very rainy affair on the road last week. I would encourage all of you to read the @V_Varen_EN review of the match as it provides a much better summary of the game.
3. Match Day 2 Review: FC Ryukyuvs. Avispa Fukuoka
FC Ryukyu and Avispa Fukuoka ground out a 1-1 draw in Okinawa this past Sunday. You can read my full match day review below or watch the highlights, your choice.
If you yearn for even more info and more stats on games then check out the Football Lab. It is a Japanese language website but is easily translated through your internet browser, it is very impressive.
(20)Giravanz Kitakyushu0W0D2L 1GF 3GA -2GD: Giravanz made five changes to their starting lineup from their previous opening day match against Fukuoka back in February. Kobayashi completely replaced the attack duo up front of Machino and Sato with Suzuki and Ikemoto. He also swapped Arakaki and Kokubu from the midfield for Tsubaki and Kawakami, with the latter having moved up from his role at CB the previous match to fill in at CDM.
Statistically, the changes did not make much difference as the shots and free kicks were the same across the two matches but Kitakyushu did end up scoring their first goal of the season. The “eyeball” test would tell you that Giravnanz created the same amount of chances against Nagaski as they did against Fukuoka, but they did not experience the same type of forward thrust they enjoyed against Fukuoka.
The highlights show four (4) chances this past week against Avispa but 3 of them, including the goal from an errant clearance, were mostly generated by Nagasaki turnovers. The goal scorer for Kitakyushu, Kokubu, came on to replace Ikoma at CB, and I assume that meant Kawakami dropped back to CB based on Kokubu’s location when he scored. I thought that Giravanz may have opted to switch to a back three in defense near halftime to add to the attack, but this was not the case.
Giravanz Kitakyushu Injuries/Suspensions: No starting members are listed on the injury report.
(17)FC Ryukyu0W1D1L 1GF 2GA -1GD: Higuchi was forced into making one change last Sunday as starting LM, Shuto Kawai, was out with an ankle injury so in stepped Koya Kazama. FC Ryukyu are blessed with midfield talent this year so while there was a slight drop off in the overall amount of chances created and possession between their two games, it was not a steep drop. Though I must say, the drop off in speed down the left without Kawai was very noticeable.
Manager Higuchi also opted to start Fukui over Suzuki at CB; Torikai over Tavares at RB; and Kazuki Yamaguchi over Ren Ikeda in the #10 role. Ryukyu’s reserves included Shinji, Uehara, Tomidokoro, Tanaka, Suzuki and Koizumi though Shinji remained on the bench the whole game.
I feel as if FC Ryukyu have the stronger squad of the two this week which should result in far more opportunities compared to last week. Ryukyu bested their best two opponents in the shot and possession departments so FC Ryukyu should have no problem hitting the back of the net this week.
Of course, this will largely depend on Higuchi’s lineup selection and game plan. I hope we see Suzuki back in the starting CB role, leaving Fukui on the bench, with the same attacking 4 -Koya, Yamaguchi, Motegi and Abe- from last week, in order to control the tempo of the game. I would then expect Uehara and Tanaka to come on late in order to provide a bit of height and pace to overpower the Kitakyushu back four.
We also need to see more from FC Ryukyu on dead ball kicks as they have yet to score from those plays despite the multitude of opportunities to date. If the first cross from a corner can just clear the initial line of defenders than Yong Jick and Uehara, possibly Tavares if he is in there, could rise and meet them for headers. On that note, the most lethal player from corners last week was Numata who had two excellent headers that when he found some open space in the Fukuoka defense.
FC Ryukyu Injuries/Suspensions:No need to state the long-term injuries again until they are close to returning to the roster. MF Shuto Kawai is still another 3 weeks away from returning to the team because of an ankle injury.
5. FC Ryukyu Keys to Victory
The Scale: 5- An almost certainty it will occur 4-Fairly-Certain it will happen 3-Somewhat Certain it could happen 2-Very Unlikely it happens 1- Requires a Miracle to happen
1. Isolate/Mark MF Daigo Takahashi. Likelihood 2: Takahashi is by far Kitakyushu’s best player this season and is responsible for most of their goal scoring chances to date. I did not see anything from the Giravanz strike duo that would indicate FC Ryukyu struggling to blunt the Giravanz attack. So if Ryukyu can take their best player in Takahashi out of their opponent’s game plan, it should be a recipe for success.
2. Capitalize on set pieces. Likelihood 4: FC Ryukyu hit the wood work once from a CK and had another one wiped off the board due to a foul on the GK. Serantes also made a very nice save on a dangerous FK by Motegi. But we are not facing Serantes this week and we should utilize our height advantage with Uehara and Yong Jick this week compared to the past weeks.
6. Match Day 3 Prediction
This game may start out as a hard-fought battle between a couple of the teams expected to finish in the bottom third of J2 in 2020, but I think FC Ryukyu will take control of the game and go on to score multiple goals. I will say FC Ryukyu notch their first win with an impressive 3-0 result over Kitakyushu.
7. Match Day 3 in J2
(4) Avispa Fukuoka hosting (1) V-Varen Nagasaki in a Kyushu derby is the premier match up this week on Saturday evening followed closely by the (8) Tokushima Vortis vs. (9) Kyoto Sanga match that same night. We then close out the round on Sunday when (11) Jubilo Iwata hosts (4) Fagiano Okayama.
It will be interesting to see how both Tokushima and Jubilo respond to their losses and whether or not Kyoto and Okayama can assert themselves as promotion candidates. The rest of the weekend features some mid-table match-ups with 4 out of the 5 teams currently at the bottom of J2 squaring off against one another.
One final point on the upcoming round of fixtures. It was revealed by the J-League that none of the referees had been tested for COVID-19 prior to last weeks opening round in J2 & J3 and this is shocking. I feel that this is an injustice to the teams, staff and players that worked diligently to restart the season; and to the fans, and is nothing short of reckless behavior on behalf of the league. New cases of the virus are being reported daily in Japan and when you consider the leagues justification for foregoing the testing seems anecdotal. They claim that many of the refs have other jobs, which you and I know, could possibly put them at a greater risk than the most for coming into contact with COVID-19. This policy needs to change now as I highly doubt that the refs , like the teams, are all located geographically to the matches they’re overseeing, which puts many outside of football at risk when these guys travel.
There is not much that separates these two teams on paper as both have yet to win a game and have nearly identical goal scoring records. This will be the first real test for FC Ryukyu against a lesser opponent which means it is our first opportunity to assess the strength of this team after facing two tough opponents in the past weeks (months).
Considering FC Ryukyu struggled mightily on the road last year, and it wasn’t until they began facing weaker competition near the end of the season – when the results really mattered – that they began stacking up the road wins. FC Ryukyu cannot afford a slow start on the road this season, especially against a newly promoted side, as they have a murderous fixture schedule through mid-August after Kitakyushu. A win would do much for their confidence before they host 2 of the top sides in J2 over the coming weeks.
Therefore, now is the time for FC Ryukyu to make a statement this weekend by traveling to Kitakyushu and coming away with all 3 points. And with that……………………………………………….
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