No, It Isn't an Error

You might think the picture was neglected to be changed, but Mito's goalkeeping performance remains amazing.

In all the players in the 9 J2 games played last weekend, Mito keeper Koji Honma was considered player of the round by a healthy margin, again.

In addition, defender Sakuda, who scored both of Mito's goals in addition to providing quality defense, was named in the top 11 team. Mito's opponent in the last round, Sapporo, had 4 players in the top 11 team, which shows how well that team's offense played along with Mito's defense quality. The game was exciting, but there is always the chance that it just means the other matches were poorly played!

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

We're in the Money!

Ibaraki Newspaper report

Mito makes money. Unlike many teams, Mito was able to pull off its best season ever and make money at the same time.

2009 left Mito with 6,000,000 yen in the plus column.

Former Mito Captain Injured

FC Tokyo defender Daishi Hiramatsu, who played several years for Mito and was captain of the 2008 team, suffered a severe ACL injury in Tokyo's practice match on Sunday. He will be undergoing surgery tomorrow.

Mito 2 -1 Sapporo

Mito scored 2 goals for only the second time this year as the team hung on to beat a dominant Sapporo side at Sapporo Dome. Sapporo clearly played better and had an amazing medium range goal to show for that effort, but Mito's catenaccio style is proving successful so far. In most games Mito has been outshot massively and has been behind strongly in possession as well, and this was no different, having less than a third of each in the match.

As has been the case since game 3, Mito has only been dangerous during set plays, and the only goals scored against other teams have been during free kicks or corner kicks. In this match, Mito would take four corner kicks and the two goals would result from two of these. Both would have the ball bounce around a bit before falling luckily in front of defender Sakuda, who would knock it in for his first 2 pro goals. They lacked the finesse of Sapporo's fine strike, but no fan prefers a pretty loss over an ugly win.

The upcoming holiday week has 3 matches with 2 being home for Mito. The first will be on Thursday with Tokyo Verdy making the short trip north.

New Sponsorships are Always Good

Siffler, a luggage company in Saitama, has become a supporting partner not for the uniform, or stadium advertising, but... suitcases! 30 suitcases to be used on away games have been given to the club!

http://www.mito-hollyhock.net/www/news/index.cgi?no=96

Future J. Leaguers on Mito Turf

The 2010 Regional League championship, which decides the teams to enter JFL, the last proving ground before entering J2, will have one qualifying group take place in Hitachinaka Stadium in November. 10 minutes away from Mito city, this stadium has hosted many JFL, J2, Emperor's Cup, and even a few J1 matches, and was the main ground for Mito at one point. 2010 is the first year that the ground is not scheduled for use by the club.

http://www.jfa.or.jp/match/matches/2010/chiiki_league/index.html

Along with supporters from around the country, team staff will be attending and scouting.

Keeper Honma Named Player of the Round

In all the players in the 9 J2 games played last weekend, Mito keeper Koji Honma was considered player of the round by a healthy margin.

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

Fukuoka attempted 21 shots and none could get through, and he had plenty of great saves among them.

This isn't a first; Honma has been keeper of the round more than any other since the statistics have been kept, and was player of the round many times over the last 2 seasons.

Exhibition Match: Mito 3 - 1 Arte Takasaki

Mito's reserves took on scrappy JFL side Takasaki at Holly Pitch on Sunday. Mito would score 3 goals in the first half and concede one in the second.

Shiratani scored 2 for Mito, with the other taken by Katayama, who seems to score in every team practice or exhibition match.

Mito 1 - 0 Fukuoka

Mito got the first win since the first round and the first goal since the second at home on Saturday. The same style play has been implemented from the beginning and it has relied almost totally on defense. Even in this match, defender Owada was the one who scored the goal with a header from a cross in front of the keeper.

Mito now has a flat, even record. 2 wins, 2 losses, and 3 draws, with neutral goal difference.

The only negative point was the fan number, which was barely over 6000. This was due to a snowstorm in the morning, and at almost exactly freezing temperature, the roads and grass were covered. After 8AM or so this switched to freezing rain, then very cold rain, and it remained chilly and partly cloudy for the rest of the day. As most of the tickets for the day were free (and 10000 had been given out), half of the potential crowd with no money invested in the match chose to stay home.

After the match, thousands stayed in the stands for an hour to be part of filming an NHK episode involving the "worst of" Japan. This one focused on the worst-supported pro club. TV stars were at the stadium and connected live on the screen to banter with the fans, and it all will be shown on May 7th.

The next match is on Sunday at Sapporo.

Takashi Kasahara to Mito HollyHock

190 cm Meiji University starting keeper Kasahara is joining Mito for the summer as a JFA special talent for pro experience. He'll wear number 28.

Mito 0 - 1 Tosu

Mito played another great game away but lost in the same way as against Kashiwa. Simply put, the ball must be pushed forward and forwards must take shots. That's it, folks. Mito can't scoreless draw into J1.

Mito 0 - 1 Kashiwa, Then 2 - 7

Mito's entire squad went to Kashiwa on Sunday. The top team fought incredibly hard but came away with the season's first loss. Captain Owada was red carded for a challenge, probably fairly, just before the break. Mito kept the game scoreless until the last minute, when Kashiwa's Otsu (born and raised in Mito) took the what should have been inevitable win.

Despite the loss, keeper Honma took keeper of the round honors for his typically great defense.

This game-saving defense was highlighted the next day, as the reserve squads of both clubs faced each other and backup keeper Ono took the duty. The home side won by a score rarely seen in Japanese pro matches, with Mito's two goals from backup forwards Katayama and Shiratani.