J2: Sagan Tosu

The Nabisco games are starting up against this weekend, but I thought I'd take this break from the J1 period to spend a little time with some J2 teams. I did consult with Furtho about where I should first start...when you're 12 rounds behind, it's almost impossible to do a proper catch-up, I admit. But he did give me a few places to look, and I thought I'd start off with a little peek at how things are going for Sagan Tosu.

Patience is said to be a virtue, and Sagan have indeed kept things slow and steady. The pre-season spotlight was on Sagan's dedication to development over time. Second year coach Matsumoto (63 years old) has been planning for this season since the middle of last year. The long-term focus is on building a team that can properly participate at the J1 level... in other words, without falling apart the minute they start playing J1 teams. If you look at the new additions to the coaching staff, you'll see human resources have been plucked from among people with J1 club experience like Verdy, Jubilo, Grampus, and Antlers.

We've even seen drastic changes in the player list. At the preseason, half the players were newly acquired. Sagan had done really well in the first leg of last season, climbing up to fifth place at one point. However, as they entered the second half of the season their strategies were being easily analyzed by opponents, and they ended up not getting the results they needed. It is said that this experience may have pushed the club to change so many players this year. And the focus is not just on getting new faces, but choosing new players with specific outstanding characteristics -- height, speed, or ability to think&act during a game. So on top of the usual team strategies, each player is expected to use his unique characteristics to add that x-factor to the pot.

This is a very young team, but with an experienced staff, so the way the coaches could develop the team from the preseason through the 44 league matches will probably decide whether they crash and burn mid-way or pace themselves nicely through to the end. Some of the fan favorites include goalie Junnosuke Schneider who provided a lot of exciting moments for viewers in the Mito game. Then there is Ochiai, who was converted from def mf to defense core -- he has always been good at responding to dangerous situations, but while he was at Kashiwa Reysol, he was beaten out by teammate Myojin for the spot. (Unfortunately, he got a 5 game ban penalty for "expessing his anger" at the Ventforet game so the team wasn't able to depend on him for most of the past few weeks. Hopefully he's learned his lesson!) Also, Sagan just got a new addition in April -- Takachi (previously at Kyu-League's FCRyukyu), who started just two days after officially signing with the team in the Thespa and Mito games and showed his dribbling strengths and contributed as defender to the team's wins.

After twelve rounds (about a quarter of the way through the season), the J2 rankings have Sagan in 4th place with 19 points. But Kyoto Purple Sanga have already broken ahead with 29 points for first place. In second and third place are Montedio and Avispa with 20 and 19, so Sagan is sort of clinging onto the top half grouping right now.

At this point, the thing most J2 watchers will bring up if you mention Sagan Tosu is their 3-0 victory over Kyoto Purple Sanga in the last round. Kyoto, who were undefeated for the first eleven games of this season. Looking at the Sagan supporter blogs, even they are astonished and sheepishly cannot hide their joy over this unexpected result. (Two years ago, Sagan only won 3 games total; this year they've already won 5). From what I hear, the first twenty minutes or so was Kyoto's to take -- but the Sagan defense line, controlled and focused, thwarted crosses in and managed to successfully catch Kyoto in off-side traps about five times in the first half alone. Worth mentioning is Biju's move to defensive midfield -- he helped the team successfully nab the ball nearer to their forward line making it easier to invite mistakes from Kyoto's defenders and screwing up their offensive buildup as well. It was also nice to see that fw Suzuki, who had been a replacement for Ujihara (who comes from J1's Grampus), brought the golden touch to the team this game. Suzuki scored twice.

I think Sagan has stayed alive in the rankings because they've been able to maintain some amount of stability in defense -- with 5 wins and 4 draws so far, and only 11 goals allowed (more than half the J2 teams have allowed 14 or more goals already). The other strange thing is that they haven't been able to get a win at Home -- whether that signifies anything or not... But their last game at home was a 0-0 draw with Shonan, a game that was a perfect example of how difficult it is sometimes to get that ball to go inside the goal one measley time. In fact, Sagan should have by all logical predictions won this game against Shonan. A red card to Shonan's Shirai in the 23rd minute gave the home team a numerical advantage. Sagan was also recorded to have made 16 shots on goal -- 6 shots more than the average for a J2 game and 14 more shots than Shonan made in the entire game. But alas, Shonan was focused and able to follow instructions from their coach to "stay calm and go for a counter-attack when you get possession". Sometimes it's just easier to be cornered into having only one way to fight -- keeps things uncomplicated and easier to focus.

Sagan's coach Matsunaga had said after this game that it showed that the inexperience of the young players made it difficult for them to solve their problems on their own, figure a way out for themselves. The players commented that the problem was partly because they did not have enough options in offensive plans/strategies. It's interesting to see this gap between the two sides -- the players blamed the fact that they weren't prepared with enough back-up plans, whereas the coach was hoping that the team or individuals could take some leadership and figure out things independently. Sometimes it is more difficult to play a game like this, when the opponent is so defensive, because it forces the other team to come up with something that puts psychological pressure on the defensive team, something different, clever, or truly high quality. Perhaps Sagan will be able to develop this area as they play through more games this season.

Well, I wanted to go back to the older rounds too, but this entry will get too long. The next game is Sagan vs. Sendai. Sagan won the first meeting 2-0 away, and now will have to finally prove that yes indeed they can win at home too. They have been unable to play with the ideal starting lineup so far, what with injuries and bans; but they have been able to stay true to their type of football (of putting pressure quickly, active running) and each game has introduced a new hero to the drama (from goalie Schneider, Arai, Miyahara, Hasegawa, to now Suzuki). And don't forget that they have held opponents to 0 in 7 games. But Sendai are just coming into their own as well, and most predict that Sendai will control possession of tomorrow's game. I am curious to see how Sagan will enter this game, after their confidence-boosting win over Kyoto and before a home crowd that is getting impatient for a home win. The team being as young as it is, I wonder how Matsumoto will control his players' psychological state going into the match -- will they be gung-ho on the attack? or attempt to play a little more mature and patiently?

If you're just getting interested in the J2 now, Sagan is a fun team to root for. Their current standing teetering just on the edge of the top clump, the youth of their players, new heroes being born every week, the well-thought-out player selection by coach Matsumoto, keeping the level of nervous excitement just high enough to make us curious about their performance over the remainder of the year. If you live in the area, it may also be fun to go watch one of their games at the Tosu Stadium (pic) -- which allows 25,000 capacity (the largest in Kyushu) and is located right by the JR Tosu station.