Intro
Okinawa SV fought back from both a two (2) goal and one (1) goal deficit on Sunday to maintain their unbeaten streak and second place standing in the JFL table. In what started out as pretty shaky opening quarter hour for OSV turned into one of their best performances of the early season.
MD4 Recap
I am not sure if it is a case where Okinawa SV just start matches slowly, or perhaps it is all part of Rei Onogi’s game plan to see what the opponents are wanting to do. In any case, Okinawa SV were on the back foot for about the first fifteen minutes of this match allowing Mie to dictate the terms of play in addition to scoring two goals inside of ten minutes.
Hyon-ju Ryang opened the scoring in the very first minute of the game with a 60-yard chip over the Okinawa GK Hanada (31:00) who must’ve drifted way to far off of his line. You can’t really tell from the highlights where Hanada was at as all you’ll see is the shot and Hanada picking himself up and picking the ball up out of the back of the net. This was the first time this season where Okinawa SV found themselves playing from behind.
Just about nine minutes later Shota Tamura doubled the Mie lead (39:20) when he turned in a rebound from a shot that was initially saved by Hanada but simply fell right at the feet of the on-rushing Tamura. Down two goals, and looking like they could hemorrhage more, Okinawa SV needed to quickly turn things around.
The breakthrough for OSV occurred at the 23′ minute mark when Kakeru Aoto’s back heel flick found its way past the Mie GK (52:20). It was the exact type of response that OSV needed and that really set them on a path to control the game and create chances. Shuri Arita, who assisted the earlier Aoto goal, leveled the match for OSV in the 58′ minute from a goal mouth scramble following an OSV set play (1:44:30).
Okinawa SV were unable to capitalize on their momentum and possession and once again found themselves down a goal when in the 82′ minute (2:08:00) Shota Tamura doubled his tally on the day with a lovely rounding of the OSV keeper and cool finish stemming from a fast break out of the Mie end. To be fair, I think they play should’ve probably never happened considering that Shuga Arai was absolutely cleaned out on a play which should’ve been blown dead for a foul but one in which the ref was just going to allow the players to play.
Despite finding themselves down again in this game, OSV responded in just 3 minutes when Yukihide Gibo chested down a long cross from Meguru Odagaki inside the Mie box and blasted home the volley to level the match (2:11:50). It was one of the nicest goals I’ve seen OSV score this season and certainly one of their biggest.
OSV nearly won the match at the very end but were just unable to push the ball across the line following another goal mouth scramble with the ball stuck somewhere in the middle of all that, and where the Mie GK was able to fish it out and kill off the play.
JFL Match Day Four
(1) Kochi United continues their strong push for a JFL championship by defeating (10) Tochigi City 3-2 on the road. I am not sure the game was that close as Kochi jumped out to a 3-0 lead before surrendering two very late, stoppage time, goals to Tochigi City. It was the third time this season that Kochi United have scored three goals in a match and only the first time all season that they surrendered a goal.
The only goalless game of this round happened between (9) Honda FC and (4) Reilac Shiga. Then there are the two bottom sides of (15) Criacao Shinjuku and (16) Briobecca Urayasu who have yet to score a goal this year. It must be serioulsy deflating to Briobecca to have lost all their games 1-0.
There are some games on the JFL Youtube channel but you’ll probably need to hunt down the other matches on each teams individual YouTube Channel. JFL YouTube: @JFLOfficialChannel
MD 5 Preview: (2) Okinawa SV vs (11) ReinMeer Aomori
Okinawa SV will play their second home match of the 2024 JLF season this Sunday, April 7th, at 13:00. Aiming to host as many games as they can at the same stadium FC Ryukyu uses, the Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium in Okinawa City’s Comprehensive Park, in order to get as many fans as they can, hopefully more that 424 can show up for this match. Unfortunately I will not be one of them as I am returning from some vacation time.
Aomori currently sit eleventh in the standings and will play their fifth consecutive road match of the year. I guess the weather in Aomori this time of the year is not conducive to football. Aomori won their first game this past week when they defeated Briobecca Urayasu 1-0. Based on their results this year one could draw the conclusion that Aomori have a pretty stout defense since they’ve conceded only two (2) goals all season and have shut out their opponents in consecutive weeks. But OSV maybe a much tougher test for the Aomori back line.
For OSV the task is simple, grab the win and maintain the current position at, or near the top of the table. There are about none teams in the table that are only separated by a few points so one must suspect there will be some massive shifts in the standings as the season progresses. But that doesn’t mean that dropping points, especially at home, is something that OSV needs to contend with while heading into a favorable match against an opponent that has only scored two goals all season.
Conclusion
It was definitely an interesting set of two games for OSV these past few weeks. Both were away matches where OSV twice surrendered a lead (Maruyasu Okazaki) and this past one where they clawed their way back to level the match on two occasions. I think these are encouraging signs for a club that struggled mightily last season. Sure, you would’ve preferred to see OSV come out as victors in each match but these are still two valuable points against some tougher opponents that still keeps OSV near the top of the table.
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