Japanese Non-league Football News

It's been a disaster of a weekend for Rosso Kumamoto. The Kyushu club, hoping for a second successive promotion after having won their Regional league last year, require a top two JFL finish in order to achieve their dream of a place in the J-League itself in 2007. Occupying second spot and with a third of the season remaining, they yesterday hosted leaders Honda FC in front of more than 7000 expectant fans and lost 2-1. On Sunday, they slipped down into third position as a result of the resurgent YKK AP's 5-1 hammering of Arte Takasaki and with Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo breathing down their necks following a good draw at Tochigi SC, the pressure could scarcely be more intense for Rosso.

The other action on Sunday was all down at the bottom of the table, where almost-certain relegation play-off candidates Honda Lock picked up a rare point in a draw with SC Tottori. It was all go for the other teams in the bottom third, however, as Mitsubishi Mizushima scored twice in the first ten minutes and ended up getting a crucial 3-1 win over Sagawa Printing - a good result for Mitsubishi that would have been even better if FC Ryukyu hadn't managed a shock win over Sagawa Kyubin Osaka, which also makes life extremely difficult for Ryutsu Keizai University. In the other game, the utterly unpredictable JEF Club came from behind to crush Kanto neighbours Yokogawa Musashino 4-1 and move above Arte Takasaki, who could still find themselves dragged down into the relegation quagmire.



In among the Honda Lock fans at the match with Tottori

Sun 10 Sep: FC Ryukyu 2-1 Sagawa Kyubin Osaka
Sun 10 Sep: Honda Lock 1-1 SC Tottori
Sun 10 Sep: JEF Club 4-1 Yokogawa Musashino
Sun 10 Sep: Mitsubishi Mizushima 3-1 Sagawa Printing
Sun 10 Sep: Tochigi SC 0-0 Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo
Sun 10 Sep: YKK AP 5-1 Arte Takasaki

1 Honda FC 58 (+27)
2 YKK AP 52 (+30)
3 Rosso Kumamoto 52 (+24)
4 Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo 50 (+33)
5 Sagawa Kyubin Osaka 48 (+25)
6 Alo's Hokuriku 44 (+21)
7 Tochigi SC 43 (+13)
8 Yokogawa Musashino 41 (+7)
9 Sony Sendai 33 (-1)
10 SC Tottori 28 (+4)
11 JEF Club 25 (-14)
12 Arte Takasaki 25 (-23)
13 Sagawa Printing 24 (-19)
14 FC Ryukyu 23 (-12)
15 FC Kariya 23 (-15)
16 Ryutsu Keizai University 22 (-19)
17 Mitsubishi Mizushima 20 (-37)
18 Honda Lock 12 (-42)



Hiroki Kishida, two-goal hero for YKK AP

There was only one place to be for JFL fans this weekend and that was at the clash between the top two sides in the elite league of the Japanese non-league game. It was frontrunners Honda FC who emerged triumphant over Rosso Kumamoto thanks to a late goal from Daiju Kawashima - which means that his side now stand six points clear at the top of the table, with time running out for those sides still holding on to some hope of catching them. It's almost certainly too late for the likes of Alo's Hokuriku to make an impression, but they nevertheless managed a 4-2 win over Sony Sendai that included a hat-trick from Yoshio Kitagawa, while the relegation battle of the day also featured a hat-trick hero in the shape of Tomohiro Ito. His goals enabled FC Kariya to come from behind and so deliver a 5-1 crushing to Ryutsu Keizai University, meaning that the Aichi prefecture-based club leapfrog three of their rivals to move clear of the drop zone.



Honda FC celebrate their early lead in Kumamoto against Rosso

Sat 09 Sep: Alo's Hokuriku 4-2 Sony Sendai
Sat 09 Sep: FC Kariya 5-1 Ryutsu Keizai University
Sat 09 Sep: Rosso Kumamoto 1-2 Honda FC

1 Honda FC 58 (+27)
2 Rosso Kumamoto 52 (+24)
3 Sagawa Kyubin Tokyo 49 (+33)
4 YKK AP 49 (+26)
5 Sagawa Kyubin Osaka 48 (+26)
6 Alo's Hokuriku 44 (+21)
7 Tochigi SC 42 (+13)
8 Yokogawa Musashino 41 (+10)
9 Sony Sendai 33 (-1)
10 SC Tottori 27 (+4)
11 Arte Takasaki 25 (-19)
12 Sagawa Printing 24 (-17)
13 FC Kariya 23 (-15)
14 Ryutsu Keizai University 22 (-19)
15 JEF Club 22 (-17)
16 FC Ryukyu 20 (-13)
17 Mitsubishi Mizushima 17 (-39)
18 Honda Lock 11 (-42)



Cheery FC Kariya fans after their team’s biffing of RKU

Crucially out-of-form Honda Suzuka lost 3-0 to challengers Konica Minolta Toyokawa to concede vital ground at the top of the Tokai League Division 2 last weekend, enabling Kasugai Club to move three points ahead thanks to their comfortable win at relegated FC Kawasaki. Old hands Nagoya Club beat Fuyo Club in the mid-table fixture and still have an outside chance of gaining promotion back to the top division.

Sun 03 Sep: FC Kawasaki 0-4 Kasugai Club
Sun 03 Sep: Fuyo Club 1-4 Nagoya Club
Sun 03 Sep: Konica Minolta Toyokawa 3-0 Honda Suzuka

1 Kasugai Club 25 (+14)
2 Honda Suzuka 22 (+5)
3 Konica Minolta Toyokawa 19 (+8)
4 Nagoya Club 18 (+3)
5 Fuyo Club 17 (-3)
6 Mind House TC 16 (+2)
7 Morishin's FC 11 (-3)
8 FC Kawasaki 3 (-26)

Last weekend's round of Tokai League Division 1 matches saw Shizuoka FC pick up the win necessary to keep their faint grip on the title, as they beat neighbours Fujieda City Hall 5-3 while odds-on championship favourites FC Gifu had a weekend free. Still in third place and having enjoyed a solid season are Yazaki Valente, 4-0 winners over Chukyo University - but ACM Central have had a wretched year and a 3-2 defeat at mid-table Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo meant that they were unable to add to their single pont obtained thus far.

Sun 03 Sep: Fujieda City Hall 3-5 Shizuoka FC
Sun 03 Sep: Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 3-2 ACM Central
Sun 03 Sep: Yazaki Valente 4-0 Chukyo University

1 FC Gifu 34 (+37)
2 Shizuoka FC 26 (+25)
3 Yazaki Valente 24 (+7)
4 Sagawa Kyubin Chukyo 18 (-5)
5 Maruyasu Industry 14 (-6)
6 Fujieda City Hall 9 (-12)
7 Chukyo University 8 (-16)
8 ACM Central 1 (-30)