Mito played in its first scoreless draw of the year as visiting Fukuoka played likely the same style that had the Emperor's Cup matchup go on for extra time. Fukuoka's defense match the tenacity of Mito's albeit with different styles. Fukuoka tended to press beyond the penalty area to prevent shots but risk break away plays, while Mito allowed Fukuoka to get dangerously close but block away any shots taken and prevent clear attacks. The result was an exciting and close match that cooled down in the second half as fans realized the scoring chances would not be realized.
I worked the away gate for this match and it must be said that Fukuoka's fans are among the worst I have encountered. At every Mito possession or kickoff, the Fukuoka fans made hateful noise in an attempt to disrupt Mito's concentration, going so far as to stop supporting chants and songs to switch to negative noise as soon as Mito took the ball. Somewhat disturbing was the reaction to Mito defensive midfielder Biju, who is a black Brazilian. Several Fukuoka fans hurled racist insults and made monkey sounds at him whenever close and having ball possession. It didn't seem to affect his play but it made a bad impression on me. Before the match I made some positive comments about the team and fans for some sort of Fukuoka TV camera crew, and if I had known they would have that sort of activity, I'd surely not have given any support.
3 comments:
Sad to hear about the supporters from Avispa. If Tochigi manage to get promoted next year it will interesting to see how the games go between the two as I hear that Tochigi fans are far from angels too!
Speaking of which, whats happened to Tochigi?? Very interesting, the JFL this year.
Tochigi have to play Gainare tomorrow, then have two "easy" games, followed by Okayama away and then the ressurgent Kariya FC away. If they lose on thursday...
And while you may be betting on Okayama, their last five games are all tough; New Wave (a), Sagawa (h), Musashino (a), Tochigi (h), Kataller (a). So that will really test if they are J2 material or not.
Kataller Toyama definitely seem to have the best run though.
And while Gainare also have a pretty easy run in, this thursdays game could be make-or-break for them I think. Although they have impressed me this year.
Anyway, are you going to the game at all??
I wrote a nice long reply and the internet died on me... :(
Simply put, I think that the winner between Tottori and Tochigi will go on into J2 this year, but that does not necessarily discount the other team.
I'd love to go but weekday's aren't possible... Even weekends are tough because I am committed to go to each Mito game, home and away, for the rest of the year.
I hear you, Mito's playing pretty good at the moment. It would be nice if they could knock off Shonan, Sendai etc on their way to a commendable podium finish this year.
btw, does that mean you're going to Yamagata??
I wanted to go up this year to see Gifu play there but the only one game was played on a tuesday!!
It's funny because I lived in Sendai while Vegalta were in the J1, but Yamagata were in the J2 at that stage so I never got there!!
I've been meaning to get there for ages!!!
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