Kanazawa outpacing Nagano and Machida!
Kanazawa's unstoppable momentum. Tottori with a dilemma.
This is the inaugural season of the Meji Yasuda J3 League. The winning team will automatically promote to J-League Division 2 replacing the J2 team in 22nd place, and the team that finishes in 2nd will have a play-off against the J2 team in 21st place (provided that the club has the required licence to play in J2. Approval must be granted by the J-League Board of Directors).
There have been a lot of games postponed due to typhoons, and many clubs have been forced to play catch-up games, but at the end of October all clubs have played 29 matches. With 4 games remaining the focus is now on the race for the title, and since most clubs have played 3 or 4 catch-up games in October there has been a lot of movement on the table.
But Zweigen Kanazawa were able to protect their lead at the top of the table for another month. They managed to start October by winning their Round 27 match and extending their winning streak to 7 matches, then drew in Round 28 to FC Machida Zelvia, and managed to win again in Round 29. They have kept their 4 point lead over second place AC Nagano Parceiro. In Round 29 Midfielder Shohei Hiyohara scored his first goal in several games, continuing Kanazawa's strong attcking record, and moved himself into 7th place on the goal scorers list. Top of the table with 19 wins, Kanazawa have an unstoppable momentum towards automatic promotion for their first entry to J2.
2nd placed Nagano also had a good month with 2 wins and a draw. In their Round 28 match against 4th placed Gainare Tottori, the club's leading scorer Yuji Unozawa scored from the penalty spot in the 86th minute to salvage a draw. The champions from last season's JFL, they are snapping at the heals of Kanazawa.
On the other hand, 3rd place Machida are continuing a run of tough games which saw them end October with only 2 draws and a lose. In Round 29 current league top scorer Koji Suzuki scored to draw the game as they chase the top two teams.
Including 4th placed Tottori, four teams are fighting it out for a top 2 finish and a chance for promotion to J2. But after Tottori finished October with 1 win, 1 lose, and 1 draw, they are out of reach of 1st place and auto-promotion. They now trail 2nd placed Nagano by 10 points with only 4 games left. Nagano only have to win 1 of their remaining games to put them out of the running for promotion.
Can the bottom teams have an effect on the battle for promotion?
5th placed Grulla Morioka had their Round 28 match postponed due to a typhoon, and finished October with 2 draws and a lose. However in Round 29 midfielder Kohei Yoshioka scored to earn a draw with 3rd placed Machida. They face 2nd placed Nagano in November in Round 32, which will be an important match in the race for J2 promotion. 6th placed SC Sagamihara also had a winless October, but face Kanazawa at the end of November in another match that is sure to have a huge impact on the promotion race.
7th placed Fukushima United FC played 4 games in October for 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 lose. Forward Kim Hong Yeon was very positive in attack for Fukushima, reducing the gap to Sagamihara down to a single point. 8th placed FC Ryukyu were winless with 3 draws, but their stubborn tenacity was shown in the catch-up game on October 25th when defender Takahiro Urashima score in the dying seconds to salvage a draw.
9th placed Blaublitz Akita lost in Round 27, but managed 2 consecutive wins against YSCC Yokohama and Tottori in Rounds 28 and 29. The victory over Tottori was especially pleasing because it gave them 3 wins over Tottori this season. 4 games for 10 placed Fujieda gave them 2 wins and 2 loses. After comprehensive loses to Fukushima in Round 28, and Kanazawa in Round 29, they bounced back to beat Morioka in the postponed Round 27 match. Their Round 22 match against Fukushima was also postponed until October 26th. They won a tough game 3-2 to grab the 3 points.
11th placed J-League Under 22s also played 4 games. They lost their first October game to extend their losing streak to 5 games, but managed to turn that around with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Sagamihara. Even after a red card saw them a man down after 18 minutes they still managed an impressive attacking display which showed their potential. 12th placed YSCC Yokohama played 4 games for 2 draws and 2 loses and are now winless for the second month in a row. They are desperately chasing Fujieda and the J-22 side who are 8 points ahead, trying to do whatever they can to escape the bottom of the ladder.
Now we have come to the final stages of a memorable first year for the J3 league. The battle for promotion to J2, the struggle of the bottom clubs, the race for the golden boot, we have entered the final straight, it'll be hard to take your eyes off the action for the final 4 rounds of matches.
