Mito played to yet another spirited win yesterday with four wins in a row. This results in being 3rd in the standings and perhaps 1st among teams showing talent and hard work.
I was working security at the main gate and only saw glimpses, but later with the highlights I saw that my glimpses happened to be the best of them. Arata scored for the second game in a row to be tied for 4th on goals early in the season. The lone goal of the game was typical of his style. After taking a great through pass from Kim Tae-Young, he pushed pass the chasing defenders and popped the ball past the keeper to place the ball perfectly. It's come to the point where Arata can have the ball, and seeing the situation, you can know 5 seconds ahead of time that the goal will be scored. He wasn't the only one, though, as many players made great chances, especially Takasaki. The defense also held together very well despite Nakamura's injury, making it an easy day for keeper Honma.
Still, the score was too close considering the adversary has never beaten Mito. And the team has to work on finishing off all those close chances. The team, taking an always-positive win at any cost attitude, also spent the last five minutes keeping the ball and running out the clock. Necessary, of course, but not exciting. Being ahead by two points would have added to the only 85 minutes of great display.
This marks Mito's first 4-game win streak since the team's inaugural J. League season in 2000. A win at Kusatsu on Saturday would be the same (as the last 5-game streak was the same streak as the 4-game). After Kusatsu comes Gifu, then Toyama, then Yokohama, Okayama, and assuming a strong showing on Saturday the first real challenge may be Sendai in late April. If Mito could win all of these, the team would surely place first ahead of Osaka and Shonan with plenty of cushion. Fanciful dreaming, but this year it seems possible... and for the first time more likely than to lose them. Indeed, when promotion contention is looked at a month from now, is it unreasonable to think that the current top three teams will be the three favorites to join J1 for 2010? Even considering the possibility speaks immensely for the heart of the players... Currently operating at the smallest budget of the 36 pro teams. 80,000,000 yen... The only pro team running at under US$1,000,000 a year. Hopefully 2009 will show that money isn't everything, but also hopefully this year's performance will result in more money coming in for 2010. :)
30 March 2009
26 March 2009
Mito 2 - 0 Tokyo
Mito's winning streak increases to three with the team's first home win against Tokyo Verdy last night. While only 1000 home fans and about 200 away fans would come in the wet cold weather, those who did or watched on TV were treated to one of the more exciting matches of the round, as has become customary for Mito.
The first half featured hard and aggressive play from both sides, pressuring the opposing team and stealing the ball in a display that rarely left the midfield area. The teams would combine for only 7 shots in the first half and the most eventful thing to happen would be a leg injury via foul to defender Nakamura, who then would be replaced by Hosaki.
In the second half, Mito would dominate with little from Tokyo to concern keeper Honma. Veteran Kota Yoshihara proved his worth with more of the tenacious play he has shown since joining the squad. This culminated in an incredible sprint to overtake a defender and strip the ball away, and single-footedly take it to the goal. In taking his shot for what seemed to be a sure goal he would trip up, but as the defender was making contact the official called the foul and award the penalty kick. Yoshihara would take it himself for his first goal of the year, and his show of appreciation for the fans afterward as well as the the expression of appreciative joy as he ran back to the field was inspiring. Ten minutes later, he would ask to be taken out due to a nagging left ankle and be replaced by Arata. Arata was in a drought for goals until that point and it only took ten minutes for him to show why he was last year's top rookie. Running toward a keeper pass to the defense, he'd strip the ball and push forward for a one-on-one with the keeper. He rarely misses those and chipped it over the keeper to double the lead. With that padding in place, there was no effort to waste time or try and hold the ball as was necessary in the last two games. For the last twenty minutes Mito would keep pushing against Verdy and make more chances on goal.
Coach Kiyama is clearly a skilled leader and has developed the team to be strong on both sides. Unless something unexpected happens this combination of players will be hard to beat. Perhaps the hopeful estimate of a top eight finish was too conservative.
The first half featured hard and aggressive play from both sides, pressuring the opposing team and stealing the ball in a display that rarely left the midfield area. The teams would combine for only 7 shots in the first half and the most eventful thing to happen would be a leg injury via foul to defender Nakamura, who then would be replaced by Hosaki.
In the second half, Mito would dominate with little from Tokyo to concern keeper Honma. Veteran Kota Yoshihara proved his worth with more of the tenacious play he has shown since joining the squad. This culminated in an incredible sprint to overtake a defender and strip the ball away, and single-footedly take it to the goal. In taking his shot for what seemed to be a sure goal he would trip up, but as the defender was making contact the official called the foul and award the penalty kick. Yoshihara would take it himself for his first goal of the year, and his show of appreciation for the fans afterward as well as the the expression of appreciative joy as he ran back to the field was inspiring. Ten minutes later, he would ask to be taken out due to a nagging left ankle and be replaced by Arata. Arata was in a drought for goals until that point and it only took ten minutes for him to show why he was last year's top rookie. Running toward a keeper pass to the defense, he'd strip the ball and push forward for a one-on-one with the keeper. He rarely misses those and chipped it over the keeper to double the lead. With that padding in place, there was no effort to waste time or try and hold the ball as was necessary in the last two games. For the last twenty minutes Mito would keep pushing against Verdy and make more chances on goal.
Coach Kiyama is clearly a skilled leader and has developed the team to be strong on both sides. Unless something unexpected happens this combination of players will be hard to beat. Perhaps the hopeful estimate of a top eight finish was too conservative.
23 March 2009
Mito 2 - 1 Fukuoka
It's been more than 5 years since Mito beat Fukuoka, and it was a great relief for Mito fans to finally win against that team in an away setting.
The match itself was one of the harshest in recent memory and shows the newer aggressive nature of Mito's club doing anything to win: six yellow cards taken by six different players and plenty more fouls to go around too. Mito scored early on with a header by midfielder Tae-Yeon Kim coming off a corner kick, which was his first pro goal in Japan since joining Kobe in 2006. Fukuoka would tie it up and the first half would close as a furious even encounter. The second half saw Mito in much more control, and midfielder Kikuoka took the winning goal via free kick just outside the penalty box. He shot it toward the top left corner, but striking the wall of defenders it veered to the right, past the Fukuoka keeper who had no chance. Mito's defense tenaciously kept the ball safe, cleared, and the offense took turns stalling for time and taking shots where reasonable.
Coach Kiyama's aggressive techniques appear to be paying off. In 3 matches, Mito has scored 4 goals, and under the policy of all players preparing to score at any time, no goals have resulted from the usual suspects. Two have been first time scorers and the other from players not expected to score more than 2 or 3 a year at most. Mito currently lies in 7th place, safely in the top half of the rankings, and even briefly lay in the top third before the Kofu result came in. Last year, it took the team 14 matches to get two wins. This year, three matches. If this progress continues against struggling Tokyo and Kumamoto, both at home, Mito may find itself in the top three teams in the standings this time next week. If it can continue against stronger teams, Mito may find itself challenging for promotion long before anyone expected.
The match itself was one of the harshest in recent memory and shows the newer aggressive nature of Mito's club doing anything to win: six yellow cards taken by six different players and plenty more fouls to go around too. Mito scored early on with a header by midfielder Tae-Yeon Kim coming off a corner kick, which was his first pro goal in Japan since joining Kobe in 2006. Fukuoka would tie it up and the first half would close as a furious even encounter. The second half saw Mito in much more control, and midfielder Kikuoka took the winning goal via free kick just outside the penalty box. He shot it toward the top left corner, but striking the wall of defenders it veered to the right, past the Fukuoka keeper who had no chance. Mito's defense tenaciously kept the ball safe, cleared, and the offense took turns stalling for time and taking shots where reasonable.
Coach Kiyama's aggressive techniques appear to be paying off. In 3 matches, Mito has scored 4 goals, and under the policy of all players preparing to score at any time, no goals have resulted from the usual suspects. Two have been first time scorers and the other from players not expected to score more than 2 or 3 a year at most. Mito currently lies in 7th place, safely in the top half of the rankings, and even briefly lay in the top third before the Kofu result came in. Last year, it took the team 14 matches to get two wins. This year, three matches. If this progress continues against struggling Tokyo and Kumamoto, both at home, Mito may find itself in the top three teams in the standings this time next week. If it can continue against stronger teams, Mito may find itself challenging for promotion long before anyone expected.
16 March 2009
Mito 1 - 0 Tokushima
Mito's first home match of the year was a success, beating perennial bottom team Tokushima in the cold rain. I unfortunately couldn't make it due to rare Saturday work commitments, and I wasn't the only one to miss it as the harsh weather convinced all but the just over 2000 faithful to stay home.
The reports and highlights were more than glowing for Mito, however. The team constantly controlled the match and the win was never much in doubt once the goal was scored. Tokushima has improved a lot since finishing last three times running, but apparently only in the defense up until now. There was a lot of concern in that Mito lost to a weak Ehime team last week and Tokushima had held newly relegated Tokyo Verdy to a scoreless draw. It seems that the Tokushima defense is pulling its weight, but the offense may be incapable of scoring. If this continues expect that team to have a year of many losses and scoreless draws.
Mito's goal was taken by forward Endo in his last game as a teenager, and was his first goal in his 57th league match as a forward. He's made a lot of play mistakes and never been effective as a scorer but yet has been selected for the U-19 national team and given a lot of play time solely through his intense effort and stamina. Until now his specialty has been countering defenders and getting the ball further forward to a more established striker. On Saturday his shot was a juggle off the dominant right foot onto the weaker left, which popped it perfectly into an unreachable far corner. After the match his speech and comments were full of immense confidence, and hopefully he will be able to continue his scoring ways. It will be hard for him to take the striker position with the number of quality forwards at Mito's disposal, with Arata and Takasaki or Arata and Yoshihara as the standard two-top formation (and one of those on the bench ready to sub), but coach Kiyama has stated that Endo will now get more attention.
Mito's win has the team at tenth out of eighteen teams and the next two matches are against Fukuoka and Tokyo. Both of those teams are former J1 teams and promotion contenders, but they also happen to be lower on the standings at the moment. Wins or draws against them would mean not just more confidence and higher standing on the table, but a cushion over those teams as April starts up and positioning on the table starts making gaps between strong and weak.
The reports and highlights were more than glowing for Mito, however. The team constantly controlled the match and the win was never much in doubt once the goal was scored. Tokushima has improved a lot since finishing last three times running, but apparently only in the defense up until now. There was a lot of concern in that Mito lost to a weak Ehime team last week and Tokushima had held newly relegated Tokyo Verdy to a scoreless draw. It seems that the Tokushima defense is pulling its weight, but the offense may be incapable of scoring. If this continues expect that team to have a year of many losses and scoreless draws.
Mito's goal was taken by forward Endo in his last game as a teenager, and was his first goal in his 57th league match as a forward. He's made a lot of play mistakes and never been effective as a scorer but yet has been selected for the U-19 national team and given a lot of play time solely through his intense effort and stamina. Until now his specialty has been countering defenders and getting the ball further forward to a more established striker. On Saturday his shot was a juggle off the dominant right foot onto the weaker left, which popped it perfectly into an unreachable far corner. After the match his speech and comments were full of immense confidence, and hopefully he will be able to continue his scoring ways. It will be hard for him to take the striker position with the number of quality forwards at Mito's disposal, with Arata and Takasaki or Arata and Yoshihara as the standard two-top formation (and one of those on the bench ready to sub), but coach Kiyama has stated that Endo will now get more attention.
Mito's win has the team at tenth out of eighteen teams and the next two matches are against Fukuoka and Tokyo. Both of those teams are former J1 teams and promotion contenders, but they also happen to be lower on the standings at the moment. Wins or draws against them would mean not just more confidence and higher standing on the table, but a cushion over those teams as April starts up and positioning on the table starts making gaps between strong and weak.
09 March 2009
Mito 1 - 3 Ehime
A great performance and a bad result came out of yesterday's opening match, away at Ehime. Mito had more shots, better shots, more possession, more pressing, and great cohesion. But while the team had little in the area of mistakes, there was also little in the area of luck.
Mito took strong charge from the beginning and controlled the flow of the match. In particular, the defense and offensive ends really pulled through for quality play as Ehime struggled to keep possession of the ball outside of the infield. In 15 minutes Mito would have the lead thanks to a diving header from defender Nakamura for the team's first goal of the season.
Ehime continued to struggle until minute 40 and even then remained marginally competitive at best. The first goal was well deserved for Ehime, as keeper Harada knocked a hard shot away only for it to land at Ehime forward Uchimura's feet. 1 on 1 was won by him on a quick flick that popped past the keeper and charging defender Hosaki. Other goal scenes were very disappointing though. Ehime scored in controversial fashion to take the game. One goal was scored after a handball in the goal area was missed by the referee... A ball was blocked by the chest of a Mito defender standing just inside the goal, at a camera and pitch angle impossible to know if the goal awarded was deserved... And on the other end, forward Yoshihara was fouled in what seemed to be inside the penalty box but was ruled to be a free kick just outside instead of a penalty kick inside. The Ehime keeper as well fragrantly clipped forward Arata as he was about to knock in a goal, but the penalty was not awarded. However, you can't win every call and games go like this too often for any team, unfortunately.
Mito's linking and teamwork were very nice but some players could stand out a bit more. Arata and Endo were both outhustling defenders and doing fantastically getting to shooting position, but Arata kept just missing while Endo didn't take the initiative to shoot on his own. The tall defenders Nakamura and captain Owada showed that they will be dangerous on corner kicks this year. And Yoshihara was getting accolades from the announcers, fans and after the game, coach Kiyama. It was remarked that he's rediscovered youthful energy and went hard and fast the whole match. At one point an Ehime player was breaking away to go 1 on 1 with the keeper. Yoshihara, at least 10 meters back and standing still when that player broke away, dashed after him and reached him just before making it to the penalty area. He knocked the ball away, only drawing a minor foul, and then happened to be the one clearing the ball after Ehime's free kick. If he can apply his experience and still keep the speed and drive of a rookie, he'll be a major contribution. All players were aggressive though, and perhaps too much. Mito drew 4 yellow cards and midfielder Kim came dangerously close to being sent off against his former team. Mito fans may not have liked the outcome but it was a fast-paced and exciting match played by two sides putting forth every effort to win.
In this match even a draw would have been disappointing yet understandable, and compared to that to drop goals and points in the standings feels unfair. It also marks the first loss at Ehime's stadium and the first loss for keeper Harada in his second league start. His first was two years ago against Ehime, in a game won by Mito in similar weather conditions and at a similarly small crowd in Ashikaga. Starting keeper Honma was injured and missing his first match since late 2007, but well enough to be on the bench just in case. Harada showed enough prowess to perhaps be considered the full-time second stringer over Doi, and then Shuto when he heals up at Doi's rental completion.
Mito now lies second from last on the table, only ahead of Sagan Tosu who lost 4-1 against Osaka. Of course, this is the longest season ever and there are 50 more games to help build momentum. The next game is home vs. Tokushima on Saturday.
Mito took strong charge from the beginning and controlled the flow of the match. In particular, the defense and offensive ends really pulled through for quality play as Ehime struggled to keep possession of the ball outside of the infield. In 15 minutes Mito would have the lead thanks to a diving header from defender Nakamura for the team's first goal of the season.
Ehime continued to struggle until minute 40 and even then remained marginally competitive at best. The first goal was well deserved for Ehime, as keeper Harada knocked a hard shot away only for it to land at Ehime forward Uchimura's feet. 1 on 1 was won by him on a quick flick that popped past the keeper and charging defender Hosaki. Other goal scenes were very disappointing though. Ehime scored in controversial fashion to take the game. One goal was scored after a handball in the goal area was missed by the referee... A ball was blocked by the chest of a Mito defender standing just inside the goal, at a camera and pitch angle impossible to know if the goal awarded was deserved... And on the other end, forward Yoshihara was fouled in what seemed to be inside the penalty box but was ruled to be a free kick just outside instead of a penalty kick inside. The Ehime keeper as well fragrantly clipped forward Arata as he was about to knock in a goal, but the penalty was not awarded. However, you can't win every call and games go like this too often for any team, unfortunately.
Mito's linking and teamwork were very nice but some players could stand out a bit more. Arata and Endo were both outhustling defenders and doing fantastically getting to shooting position, but Arata kept just missing while Endo didn't take the initiative to shoot on his own. The tall defenders Nakamura and captain Owada showed that they will be dangerous on corner kicks this year. And Yoshihara was getting accolades from the announcers, fans and after the game, coach Kiyama. It was remarked that he's rediscovered youthful energy and went hard and fast the whole match. At one point an Ehime player was breaking away to go 1 on 1 with the keeper. Yoshihara, at least 10 meters back and standing still when that player broke away, dashed after him and reached him just before making it to the penalty area. He knocked the ball away, only drawing a minor foul, and then happened to be the one clearing the ball after Ehime's free kick. If he can apply his experience and still keep the speed and drive of a rookie, he'll be a major contribution. All players were aggressive though, and perhaps too much. Mito drew 4 yellow cards and midfielder Kim came dangerously close to being sent off against his former team. Mito fans may not have liked the outcome but it was a fast-paced and exciting match played by two sides putting forth every effort to win.
In this match even a draw would have been disappointing yet understandable, and compared to that to drop goals and points in the standings feels unfair. It also marks the first loss at Ehime's stadium and the first loss for keeper Harada in his second league start. His first was two years ago against Ehime, in a game won by Mito in similar weather conditions and at a similarly small crowd in Ashikaga. Starting keeper Honma was injured and missing his first match since late 2007, but well enough to be on the bench just in case. Harada showed enough prowess to perhaps be considered the full-time second stringer over Doi, and then Shuto when he heals up at Doi's rental completion.
Mito now lies second from last on the table, only ahead of Sagan Tosu who lost 4-1 against Osaka. Of course, this is the longest season ever and there are 50 more games to help build momentum. The next game is home vs. Tokushima on Saturday.
02 March 2009
Exhibition Match: Mito 3 - 2 Urawa
Yesterday Mito won a regulation length practice match against Urawa Reds in a tune-up for this weekend's league opener.
Mito's goals were scored by Yoshihara, Endo, and Arata.
Mito's goals were scored by Yoshihara, Endo, and Arata.
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