Mito 2 - 1 Tokushima

Mito won a thriller at quake-damaged K's Stadium with 2nd half goals from Okamoto and Tokiwa.

Tokushima took the lead early in the first half from a perfectly placed free kick, and the first half saw Mito play far too conservatively, with only 4 shots. Mito came back after the half time talk and tied it up with plenty of time left. All that time would be needed, as Tokiwa replaced his goal-scoring teammate to take the winning goal himself in the 4th minute of 4-minute extra time.

Tokiwa's backflips in celebration stunned the crowd as always, but the crowd was unfortunately small. With the covered main stand damaged from the earthquake and a strong rainstorm threatening those in attendance, only 1200 fans make the trip to the back stand this day.

Mito has held the 1st place spot in J2 since just before 3PM, but that could end in about 10 minutes with Shonan leading at Sapporo. Unless other front running teams have big wins, Mito has a good chance to finish in the promotion zone at the end of the round. Only 36 games to go!

Kang Lee Leaves, Returns to Korea

After practicing extensively with the team over the long break, South Korean youth national team squad member Lee decided to cancel his contract after 2 months and return to his home country.

He made it clear that it was not due to the recent disasters in the country, but rather his play not being of enough quality to make the main squad.

Games Back On From the 23rd

Mito will host Tokushima at K's Stadium on April 23rd for the first game back after the earthquake. The game, and most afterward for the forseeable future, will be held at 1PM to help conserve power.

Some parts of the stadium that were damaged will be roped away, but most of the sections will allow fans at nearly full capacity.

This will be a UFJC title match.