FC Gifu hosted JEF United Chiba last Sunday. Here is the story of the day, by Stuart Smith

 

Lots of events were held in the lead up to kick off. New football comic ‘Junior!’ was presented to the supporters and lots of fans took the time to look at some of the artwork and drawing contained in the comic.

 

Halloween was the theme throughout the day with face painting, box costume making, candy giveaways and a costume parade giving the day an event feel. Our very own Machi Otoha, SKE48 member and FC Gifu ambassador, came in costume to turn up the atmosphere. She was present at the costume parade and on the CCN stage throwing out sweets to children

 

We also had a very special occasion in the stadium, as we helped two FC Gifu supporters celebrate their wedding. They said their vows in the centre circle and proceeded to celebrate by scoring a goal on the hallowed turf, after the tiny detail of beating Machi Otoha, GGG and finally goalkeeper Michiya Okamoto. Congratulations to the happy couple!

 

There was a special ceremony to mark the end of the “orange ribbon run” - an event which aims to highlight the efforts that the local area authorities are making in order to stamp out child abuse.

You can find more information on their website: http://www.orangeribbon.jp/

 

As the game was our sponsor Seino thanks match, it was their support leaders which led the “centre circle support group”. The drummer and lead vocalist (if that is the right phrase!) saluted the away fans first, before turning their attention to the home supporters and helping them with the supporter practice.

 

After the teams came out, it was time for the pre-match formalities. First up, we acknowledged full back Takayuki Fukumura’s 200th professional game. He came on to the field with his relatives and he was presented with a bouquet of flowers to mark the occasion. Fukumura is a popular member of the squad and his achievement was well received.

 

As it was the Seino thanks match, Seino transportation CEO Masahiro Kamiya and a member of the Seino Support group gave the captains a bouquet of flowers each.

 

As part of our “Hometown day” events, Hashima mayor Satoshi Matsui presented team captains Masanori Abe (Gifu) and Takayuki Funayama (JEF United) with souvenirs from the city while Kasamatsu Town mayor Masaaki Hiroe also presented the two captains with horse themed souvenirs - because Kasamatsu is famous within Gifu due to the racecourse there. Earlier in the day, Kasamatsu town authority presented the FC Gifu supporters association with a donation of ¥500,000.

 

As for the traditional kick in ceremony - where the match ball is presented to the referee - it was left to Seino transportation mascot Karu-chan, a kangaroo, to do it. And she did it…..just! She kicked the ball about a meter, but that was good enough for the referee, and so we were able to start the game.

 

FC Gifu starting XI: Victor, Abe, Takeda, Kitatani, Aoki, Mishima, Miyamoto, Kazama, Paulo Tanaka, De Vries, Yamagishi

 

JEF are one of the most potent attacking teams in the division, and they started off of on the front front, trying to get wingers Daiki Tameda and Yusuke Chajima involved s much as possible. The away side created a few chances in the early stages of the game; Chajima hitting the side netting from the right, and then Funayama heading over the crossbar. Gifu started the game slowly, but we took the lead in the 35th minute after a fine team move.

It started on the left hand side, where Koya Kazama won possession and played it into the feet of Junichi Paulo Tanaka. Paulo then made a deft lay off to the on-rushing Kota Miyamoto who shaped to shoot, but instead played the ball into the path of Ryan De Vries, and the New Zealander did the rest and scored his second goal of the season.

The goal gave Gifu confidence and we were soon back on the attack - De Vries playing the ball to Miyamoto whose shot from 22 meters was well saved by JEF United goalkeeper Chorufan Ono, but Gifu weren’t able to add to their lead went into half time with the single goal lead.

The second half took much the same route as the first, JEF starting well and creating a couple of chances - Takaya Inui shooting just over from outside the area, and then Funayama diverting a Chajima cross from the right just wide. FC Gifu needed another goal, and we got it in the 73rd minute. Koya Kazama played a perfectly weighted reverse through ball to De Vries, and Ryza placed his left foot shot into the far corner of the net. De Vries, Paulo & Yuya Yamagishi celebrated behind the goal.

 

De Vries’ goal effectively sealed the game and although JEF had a couple of half chances in the remaining fifteen minutes, FC Gifu held firm to record their second consecutive clean sheet, the game ending 2-0 to FC Gifu.

After the game, Ryan De Vries was understandably very happy: “This is for the fans who continued to turn out and support us. The boys fought very hard and I think we deserved this victory. We just want to continue this run we’re on now - we just want to go out and win our remaining three games. Obviously, as a striker you get frustrated when things aren’t going well and you aren’t scoring or winning so it is good to get past that.”

 

I asked him about what it is like to play in this side. “We’ve obviously had it tough. We lost Kyogo (Furuhashi) and I think it took us a while to figure out what we were. We also had a slight change of tactics as well and this has seemed to work for us, everyone is confident in their roles and I think that people are playing to their strengths. When I play, the boss asks me to pressure defenders and occupy them, which should give space to Paulo (Tanaka) and Yuya (Yamagishi) on the wings to do their stuff. Also, I know that if I make runs in the channels then Koya has the talent to play me in, just like for the second goal. As soon as I laid the ball off to him, I knew where he would be looking to play the ball and so when I saw the space, I attacked it and, you know, finished the chance. It was a relief to get the second goal because I was remembering my first goal for Gifu (in a 3-2 defeat by Kamatamare Sanuki) which put us 1-0 up but we quickly went 1-3 behind, so at least in this game it was good to score AND be on the winning side.”

Manager Takeshi Oki was a little bit more understated. “We defended/pressed high up the pitch and I think that allowed us to make create chances today. As a collective, we defended well but didn’t overcommit and I think that’s why we didn’t leave big gaps on the pitch, this helped us keep a clean sheet.”

A very good win, and a win that inches us closer to J2 safety. FC Gifu take this three game unbeaten run into next weekend, when we welcome Montedio Yamagata to Nagaragawa Memorial Centre.