Various News Bites

A few bits relating to the Mito players.

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Curiously, despite bad form as a team, Mito players have consistently remained on most rounds' best 11 teams, according to J-Stats Opta. Rankings are always displayed on this site and previous rankings are selectable:

http://www.jsgoal.jp/ss/index2.html

In the 1-3 loss against Yamagata:

-Midfielder Kikuoka (who took 3822 statistical points, which normally takes player of the round, barely being edged out for that honor)

-Defender Suzuki

-And amazingly, despite the loss, no Yamagata players joined the two Mito players on the list.

In the 0-2 loss against Shonan:

-Defender Hiramatsu

In the 1-3 loss against Gifu:

-Defender Hiramatsu

In the 3-3 draw against Sendai:

-Forward Nishino (taking 4702 statistical points as player of the round, a huge number, and statistically the 3rd best performance by a player in a game so far this year)

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Defender Owada will play his 100th professional match (and thus his 100th match for Mito) this coming Sunday in the home game vs. Ehime. There will likely be a small ceremony.

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Due to the former club president's drinking and driving scandal that led to his resignation, all players took part in a "safe driving" seminar held by a driving school representative near the player dormitory.

The public was not allowed. Judging by some of the pictures made available at the official site, the players look absolutely thrilled to take part:





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Today at 2PM, Mito will hold a practice match with instantly famous Fukushima prefecture league minnows Valiente Koriyama (http://valiente.jp/) at Twin Field. Starting this year at the bottom division of the Fukushima league, the investors spared no expense in the goal of reaching the professional ranks in as few years possible, bringing in professional players and most surprisingly, hiring world legend George Weah (considered the greatest African player ever) as the Executive Director. I would love to attend if I weren't tied up with work, and I hope a fan is able to get pictures should he be in attendance.

As Mito will field backup players and Koriyama has some expensive talent, the result should probably not be given much importance either way.