Japanese Non-league Football News

FC Kariya celebrate their 2-1 annihilation of FC Ryukyu

The Golden Week holiday saw a midweek programme of JFL fixtures, with leaders YKK AP finally surrendering their 100% record. Indeed, they had to come from two goals down to claim a point at draw specialists SC Tottori, who've now tied no fewer than six of their eight games so far. Local rivals Alo's Hokuriku now trail YKK only on goal diference, as they won 1-0 at a Sagawa Printing side who have now sunk to the bottom of the league following a disastrous start to the new campaign.

Honda FC move back up to third, a late Yuki Tasaka goal proving enough to inflict a first defeat of the year upon Yokogawa Musashino. Tochigi SC also lost for the first time, 2-1 at Sagawa Kyubin Osaka, while there were also defeats for Rosso Kumamoto and Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo on the fringes of the title race. A 2-1 defeat at FC Kariya continued promoted FC Ryukyu's miserable start to the year, although Miyazaki's Honda Lock picked up their first victory of 2006 by the same scoreline as they came from behind with two goals early in the second half to beat Mitsubishi Mizushima. The game of the round, however, came at Ryutsu Keizai University, who raced into a three-goal lead within half an hour against JEF Club. But the visitors pulled one back just before half-time and two second half goals from Danilo contributed to a remarkable 5-3 win.



Arte Takasaki's Beto greets his adoring public after the win over Sagawa Tokyo

Wednesday 3rd May: Sony Sendai 2-1 Rosso Kumamoto
Wednesday 3rd May: Arte Takasaki 1-0 Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo
Wednesday 3rd May: Yokogawa Musashino 0-1 Honda FC
Wednesday 3rd May: Sagawa Kyubin Osaka 2-1 Tochigi SC
Wednesday 3rd May: SC Tottori 2-2 YKK AP
Wednesday 3rd May: Ryutsu Keizai University 3-5 JEF Club
Wednesday 3rd May: Honda Lock 2-1 Mitsubishi Mizushima
Wednesday 3rd May: FC Kariya 2-1 FC Ryukyu

Thursday 4th May: Sagawa Printing 0-1 Alo's Hokuriku

1 YKK AP 22 (+19)
2 Alo's Hokuriku 22 (+18)
3 Honda FC 19 (+10)
4 Tochigi SC 17 (+6)
5 Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo 16 (+14)
6 Rosso Kumamoto 16 (+7)
7 Yokogawa Musashino 15 (+7)
8 Sagawa Kyubin Osaka 14 (+4)
9 Sony Sendai 12 (-1)
10 Arte Takasaki 10 (-4)
11 JEF Club 9 (-2)
12 FC Kariya 7 (-11)
13 SC Tottori 6 (-5)
14 Honda Lock 5 (-17)
15 Mitsubishi Mizushima 4 (-15)
16 Ryutsu Keizai University 3 (-12)
17 FC Ryukyu 2 (-8)
18 Sagawa Printing 2 (-10)



Half-time entertainment at Honda Lock v Mitsubishi Mizushima

Goal Scorers:

9 Tetsuya Okubo (Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo)
7 Kodai Suzuki (Honda FC)
6 Hiroki Kishida (YKK AP)
6 Kentaro Yoshida (Tochigi SC)
5 Mitsuru Hasegawa (YKK AP)
5 Naoki Ishibashi (Alo's Hokuriku)
5 Yoshio Kitagawa (Alo's Hokuriku)
5 Yosuke Kobayashi (Yokogawa Muashino)

There were games on Sunday in all three divisions of the Tohoku League, covering the northern end of Honshu island. In Division 1, the first two games of the new season saw Fukushima-based FC Primeiro gain a 2-1 win at Nippon Steel Kamaishi, while NEC Tokin held Wiese Shiogama to a goalless draw. The most interesting early season fixture, however, was a rare midweek encounter that saw last season's champions Grulla Morioka squeeze past local rivals Morioka Zebra 2-1.



Grulla Morioka notch up a victory in the derby match with Zebra

In Division 2, newly-promoted Vanrarure Hachinohe went down 2-0 at home to northern section favourites FC Akita Cambiare. There were three matches in the southern division, Marisol Matsushima hammering perennial strugglers Kanai Club 4-1, although the sides promoted from the Prefectural Leagues had differing first experiences of Regional League football. Shichigahama SC managed a 3-2 win at Kureha Chemicals, but another Fukushima side - FC Perada - went down 1-0 at Northern Peaks Koriyama.

Division 1

Sunday 30th April: Nippon Steel Kamaishi 1-2 FC Primeiro
Sunday 30th April: Wiese Shiogama 0-0 NEC Tokin
Wednesday 3rd May: Grulla Morioka 2-1 Morioka Zebra



NEC Tokin fans prepare for the big kick-off against Wiese Shiogama

Division 2(N)

Vanrarure Hachinohe 0-2 FC Akita Cambiare

Division 2(S)

Kureha Chemicals 2-3 Shichigahama SC
Marisol Matsushima 4-1 Kanai Club
Northern Peaks Koriyama 1-0 FC Perada Fukushima

A major win for New Wave Kitakyushu on Saturday brought Volca Kagoshima's early season Kyushu League challenge crashing to a halt. Three first-half goals put New Wave into an unassailable lead, pushing themselves back into the fringe of the title race and ending Volca's own 100% record. Top of the division now, however, are Nippon Steel Oita, who continued their superb start with a 6-0 crushing of bottom side Kaiho Bank SC, while three points behind with a game in hand are V Varen Nagasaki, who needed to come from behind to claim a 3-2 win over Okinawa Kariyushi. The other weekend fixture served to underline the dfficulty of the task facing Nanakuma Tombies as the former Fukuoka University students' side aim to survive their first-ever season at Regional League level, as they lost 6-2 at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki.



A faraway look at V Varen Nagasaki and Okinawa Kariyushi

Sat 29 April: Volca Kagoshima 0-3 New Wave Kitakyushu

Sun 30 April: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 6-2 Nanakuma Tombies
Sun 30 April: Nippon Steel Oita 6-0 Kaiho Bank SC
Sun 30 April: V Varen Nagasaki 3-2 Okinawa Kariyushi

1 Nippon Steel Oita 15 (+14)
2 V Varen Nagasaki 12 (+13)
3 Volca Kagoshima 12 (+7)
4 New Wave Kitakyushu 9 (+6)
5 Okinawa Kariyushi 6 (-2)
6 Osumi NIFS United 3 (-5)
7 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki 3 (-5)
8 Nanakuma Tombies 0 (-14)
9 Kaiho Bank SC 0 (-14)



Anyone for a Kaiho Bank SC towel?