Second Impressions: Vanraure Hachinohe Vs. Azul Claro Numazu

In the midst of an international break, there is still some club football to be entertained during the weekend. Mainly, the J3 League where Hadi Fayyadh’s Azul Claro Numazu makes the trip up north to Aomori prefecture to take on Vanraure Hachinohe, who are located east of the prefecture.

Hachinohe’s home stadium, Prifoods Stadium (Named after a local meat processing company since they have the naming rights) has a certain charm to it. Along with the main stand, the rest of the three stadium stands are all natural. Basically, hillside-type seatings like you usually see at the Sepang circuit along with a surrounding quaint subarbian background overlooking the stadium where you can see from the main stand.

Hachinohe though were struggling throughout the 2020 season. They finished 15th out of 18th, finishing one place lower than Gamba Osaka’s U-23 team. Had it not been for the attacking duo of Yosuke Kamigata & Tsubasa Ando, they would’ve surely propped up the table. They scored a combined total of 18 goals (Kamigata 10, Ando 8) that made up 42% of Hachinohe’s goals. However, Ando left at the end of the season to make one step up to J2 with newly-promoted side SC Sagamihara, who finished 2nd in J3 last year. In response, Yoshiki Oka was brought in from fellow J3 side, AC Nagano Parceiro in the hopes the lethality in attack can be replicated.

Once again, hopes are high to see Hadi Fayyadh in action. But he once again misses out. Though thanks to resident Mat Stats, Keesh Sundaresan who is commentating the match, we finally found out why he wasn’t named in the squad here and last week’s match Vs. FC Imabari. Hadi has been nursing a minor injury and so far, there’s been no indication when he’ll fully recover. Even then, we probably won’t know if Hadi is a guaranteed startet even if he comes back. Therefore, we may see the front two combo of Ryo Watanabe & Junya Takahashi start a lot more.

Can Numazu build on their slim win last week or will Hachinohe get their first win of the season?

Vanraure Hachinohe

Hachinohe deployed a 3-4-1-2 formation with Kamigata and Oka as expected leading the front like with Koki Maezawa, who actually joined from Numazu this season, playing in the hole. When Hachinohe was out of possession, they sat back with a 5-4-1 formation and that made it difficult for Numazu to break through. Hachinohe is definitely the better side throughout the 90 minutes, looking more threatening going forward and defensively solid.

So it was no surprise that Hachinohe took the lead when Taichi Nakamura glanced his header out of Numazu keeper Ryusuke Otomo’s reach and into the far post on 33 minutes. They could’ve had the lead much earlier had Shu Maeda’s stinging strike been slightly lower. To give an indication on how they deserve this lead, they had seven shots (five on-target) to Numazu’s five shots (one on-target) at half-time.

Hachinohe continued their dominance in the 2nd half and almost got a second immediately from the restart when Takaya Kuroishi dribbled into position on the left half-space and forced Otomo to make a save. Kamigata then got a golden chance to double the lead after being fed through on goal brilliantly by Nakamura in a role reversal. But Otomo’s quick reaction to get out and close down space denied Kamigata.

In the end though, Hachinohe looked comfortable throughout the match. Their defence led by Daichi Kobayashi, was well-disciplined and made life difficult for Numazu’s attacks. Therefore, it’s a deserving win.

Best Player: Yosuke Kamigata

Kamigata actually struggled in the early stages, but when he was allowed to roam from his central position, he became more effective. After all, it was him roaming to the right flank that saw him assisting Nakamura for what turned out to be the only goal of the game. He was perhaps unlucky when he saw his one-on-one chance well stopped by Otomo. However, he remained lively around Numazu’s final third and showed why he is Hachinohe’s best player.

Azul Claro Numazu

Numazu was poor. They struggled to create any trouble for the home side and looked always on the backfoot since the start of the match. It was going so bad that head coach Masataki Imai made a double substitute minutes before half-time by taking out creative outlet Kosei Uryu & last week’s hero Takumi Hara for Kenshiro Suzuki & Akira Osako. To his credit, Suzuki offered some form of aggressiveness down the middle. But it’s not enough to change momentum.

Numazu usually hit a dead end when they try to play down the middle (Which makes the substitution of Uryu more bizarre), so they tried the same way they did to Imabari last week by focusing attacking on the right flank. And one of them almost yielded the equalizer out of nothing in the 2nd half when Tatsuya Anzai’s cross made it all the way to Ryoma Kita at the far post, but Kita’s shot was superbly saved by Hachinohe keeper Takuji Yokoyama, possibly the only real save Yokoyama had to make. The only other chance to equalize was just before half-time when Watanabe just failed to connect Junya Takahashi’s cross from point blank.

And when Numazu did finally have a share of possession late on, they looked bereaved of ideas. They usually only passed to Someya on the right to make something happen and when they do have shots, Yokoyama never looked troubled. Overall, a poor day in the office for the Shizuoka-based team.

Best Player: Kazuki Someya

Someya once again is perhaps Numazu’s best player. But he was not as bright here as he was last week. And that is saying something about how Numazu’s day went. At least Someya along with Anzai tried to make things happen. But there is nothing else much to say other than that. 

Overall

No two ways about it. Hachinohe deserves this win. And it was much needed too after a lacklustre start to the season where they started off with a goalless draw to FC Gifu and a 2-1 defeat to Kataller Toyama. However, if the Kamigata & Oka combo starts firing, Maekawa remains calm in midfield and Kobayashi being consistently solid, there’s no reason to believe Hachinohe can finish better than last year’s placement. They can test this theory when they pay a visit to AC Nagano Parceiro, who agonizingly missed out on J2 promotion last year.

Numazu may have gotten away with it last week Vs. Imabari. But they didn’t get away this time. It’s only two games in, but the lacklustre attack is a serious cause for concern and it could well shape Numazu’s 2021 season. Early withdrawals of Kosei Uryu, who is touted to be the man to pull the creative strings for Numazu, in those two matches should also be questioned. And that in turn could well cause Numazu to be over-reliant on Someya to deliver something and keep in mind he’s going into the wrong side of the 30s too.

When things get tough, it’s kinda hard to see how Watanabe and Takahashi can turn things around. However, there could well be a solution waiting. Hadi can offer more dimension by being a target man or dropping deep as a deep-lying forward based on how he was utilized in the 2019 SEA Games. Yes, it was a long time ago, but that was the last time we have seen Hadi in action with our own eyes. During that time, it’s clear there is improvement in Hadi’s game. But as mentioned before, there is no guarantee Hadi will go straight into the starting XI once he recovers.

But given how this game went, starting Hadi surely has to be under Imai’s consideration. Not only that, whether it’s a lack of trust or a struggle to adapt to a new club, something needs to be done to get Uryu going. They do have a great chance to get back on track when they host perennial J3 strugglers YSCC Yokohama, who has always finished in the bottom half ever since they were promoted to the J3 in 2014. 

Even so, buckle up for a bumpy ride on the Azul Claro Numazu roller coaster!