Ohayooooooo gozaimasu!
It’s been a long, long couple of months, readers, but now that an unfortunate travel schedule, the necessary needs of others (no, my girlfriend would not let me take her to the Osaka game for her birthday, despite my best attempts at begging) and a series of away games have kept me pretty much completely out of the FC Tokyo loop, I’m back.
…and look at the mess that’s been made in my absence.
Since the break, FC Tokyo has gone from third place to 9th, winless in the last five games with three draws and two losses. The draws, all 1-1, came to newly-English-managed JEF Chiba, Gamba Osaka (where former FC Tokyo striker Lucas scored the goal for the opposition), and upstarts Kyoto Sanga, when a lost time score by Akamine salvaged a point. The losses came to league leaders Kashima (4-1) and Urawa (2-0) in what have been described as spirited games but, for some reason or another, FC Tokyo has not been able to capitalize on the myriad of chances it tends to have during games.
What else is new.
In addition, FC Tokyo lost to Oita on the home leg of the Nabisco Cup Quarterfinal, meaning that to force a shootout FC Tokyo would have to at least win in Oita, and win by two goals or more to move to the next round on aggregate. Times are tough for Tokyo, but given how crowded the top of the standings are (FC Tokyo is but 8 points away from current leaders Kashima) and how much things have shifted since the break (Kashiwa in 5th? Omiya in 14th and 4 points from the relegation playoff? JEF in last plac— oh, well, guess some things haven’t changed) and how there are still 16 matches left in the season, FC Tokyo can still rise to the top.
Now summer is upon us, and games are being held at 6 and 7PM in order to keep the fans from dying of heatstroke while waiting for kickoff (although how effective this actually is can be up for debate). Tonight’s match, the first home game of the second half of the season, will give the blue&red prime opportunity to begin their comeback against a Yokohama F.Marinos squad that is obviously in a state of disarray, with a new manager having been hired after the team fell into the relegation zone.
On the FC Tokyo side, Ishikawa, Nagatomo, and Hanyu have recovered enough from injuries to become reliable starters again, and Jofuku has enough faith in Hirayama to put him out as a starter as well. Emerson, Otake, and Akamine have become Tokyo’s chosen substitutes, but Akamine’s last-gasp goal against Kyoto may earn him a spot on the starting eleven today.
So, what needs to happen for a win? Tokyo needs to get the ball into the goddamned net. Simple as that. They have been befuddled in the last few weeks by shots missed by a hair, shots denied by the crossbar, shots that weren’t shots, you name it, even more so than usual. That must stop and it must stop tonight.
This evening’s match will feature fireworks at halftime, here’s hoping that Tokyo can bring some to the field as well.
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