NEWSニュース

【English Report】FC Gifu vs FC Ryukyu by Stuart Smith

FC Gifu came from behind to beat FC Ryukyu 2-1 on Sunday night, recording their third win of the season, by Stuart Smith.

 


FC Gifu starting XI: Sievers, Yanagisawa, Abe, Kai, Aizu, Mishima, Nakashima, Kazama, Murata, Aihara, Ishikawa

A very young starting line up with an average age of 23. The only change from the previous game at Tochigi was the return of Ko Yanagisawa, who came in to replace Henry. On the bench, Ryoichi Maeda made his return to the squad after a spell out – more on him later.

 

Gifu were looking for a positive start, building on their late draw at Tochigi last week, but visitors FC Ryukyu were in no mood to let Gifu have anything their own way and started very strongly. Yu Tomidokoro and Satoki Uejo both had early chances, but it wasn’t long before Ryukyu went ahead; Kazumasa Uesato unleashing an excellent shot from 23 meters which gave Jan Ole Sievers no chance at all. Ryuyku had further chances: Koji Suzuki hit the post and the crossbar, while Kai Kentaro produced a very timely block to deny another chance. Shohei Aihara came closest for Gifu, but all-in-all the visitors were the stronger side in the first half.

 

In the second half though, it was a different story as FC Gifu came out more determined and more aggressive and set about trying to reclaim some momentum. Aihara was at the forefront of most of the good things Gifu did; his powerful shot from 25 meters was held by Ryukyu keeper Dani Carvajal, while only a last ditch tackle from Ryoji Fukui prevented him from getting a shot away.

 

Gifu brought on substitutes Yuya Yamagishi, Ryoichi Maeda and Yushi Nagashima, and it was these three that helped turn the game in Gifu’s favour, providing a physical and direct threat to Ryukyu’s defensive line. Gifu’s equalizer came in the 76th minute, and it came via Maeda’s first goal for the club. A corner from Gifu’s left was cleared only as far as Shohei Aihara, and the young forward delivered a perfect cross for Maeda, and he powered his header past Carvajal and into the Ryuyku net. Better was to come for the home side, as they took the lead in the 85th minute, when Nagashima received a lay-off from Maeda on the edge of the area and hit a left foot shot into the bottom corner.


It left Gifu with five minutes plus additional time to hold on for the win, but they only did so after ‘keeper Jan Ole Sievers made a fantastic one handed save from a Ryukyu player’s header, and then Yuki Aizu cleared the ball off the goal from the follow up – a truly amazing end to the game, a game that Gifu won 2-1.

 

 

After the game, manager Takeshi Oki said: “This victory is for the supporters that have stayed with us through our recent bad run. We played for them, and I really want to thank them. It seems simple, but this match was decided because we scored when we had chances, and they didn’t take their chances. I brought Yuya (Yamagishi) on because I thought he could connect play better, and once he was on the pitch, the defence to attack path became smoother. I hope we can play like this again and send our supporters home happy more often.”


Goalkeeper Jan Ole Sievers said: “It is good to get my first win as a Gifu player. In the first half we didn’t do many things right, but in the second half we improved and got the right result. I came here to play games and improve my skills, but I also really want to learn the language!”

Ryoichi Maeda, after scoring his first goal for Gifu, told reporters: “I kind of knew where the ball was going to go from Shohei Aihara’s cross. I got the first step on the defender and so when the ball did come, I was in a good position to get there first. I think this was a good win, but we shouldn’t waste it. In order not to waste it, we should be looking to make it consecutive wins when we play our next game.”

 

 

Gifu’s first win in nine games was a dramatic one, but there is another test coming next weekend, when Zweigen Kanazawa come to Gifu for the Hakusan Derby.