Kanazawa Inaugural J3 Champions! Nagano Advance to J2 Playoff.
Machida and Tottori fall short of promotion
This was the inaugural season of the Meiji Yasuda J3 League. Round 1 was back on March 9th, Round 33 finished up on November 23rd. All the clubs were striving toward their own goals during the final 4 rounds in November.
Zweigen Kanazawa took the coveted inaugural championship. They have been sitting at the top of the table since Round 25 in September and finished November with 4 consecutive wins. Their last defeat was back in Round 20 in August and they have 12 wins and 1 draw from their final 13 games in an unstoppable run at the top of the table. The win in Round 32 gave them the title and the J-League board of directors have already given them the go ahead to promote to J2 next season.
They had the best defensive record conceding only 20 goals, and the equal 3rd best attack with 56 goals, a good balance of attack and defence. The team's leading goal scorer was midfielder Shohei Kiyohara with 9 goals, and forward Shoma Mizunaga managed 8 goals even though he only joined the club midway through the season. Defender Kosuke Ota and midfielder Kazuhiro Sato both managed 7 goals a piece, which highlighted the quality of this side, so many players able to consistently score goals.
Finishing in 2nd place was AC Nagano Parceiro. They moved into second place after Round 27, and chased Kanazawa hard during November with 3 wins and a draw, but were unable to close the gap. They managed to lock in 2nd place and will face the 21st placed J2 team, Kamatamare Sanuki, in a play off for J2. Their leading goal scorer is Yuji Unozawa with 16 goals. He played for Kashiwa Reysol back in 2004 when J1/J2 promotion play-off games were first introduced, and scored a goal in the second leg. Now 10 years later it will be interesting to see what effect he will have on the first J2/J3 promotion play-off.
3rd placed FC Machida Zelvia and 4th placed Gainare Tottori will have to wait to next season to have another shot at promotion to J2. Machida with inaugural J3 Golden Boot winner Koji Suzuki who scored 19 goals, they were leading the table mid-season, but fell back to 2nd after a string of poor results between Rounds 22 and 25, they only took 3 points from 1 win and 3 loses. Another lose in Round 27 saw them drop to 3rd, and even 4 wins during November was not enough for them to move up the ladder. Tottori managed the 11 draws this season, the 2nd most in the league, and by the middle of the season an insurmountable gap had opened up between the top teams. A lose to Kanazawa early in November erased any small chance of them finishing in the top 2, and they failed to lift for the end of the season and finished with 1 win, 1 lose, and 2 draws in November.
Morioka played like they were challenging for the title
Grulla Morioka finished in 5th place. Grulla Morioka were the only team that came into J3 from a lower regional league, and many people expected them to struggle this season, but thanks to 12 goals from Ryota Doi, 4th on the goal scorers list, they were able to be potential challengers to the title. They finished on a down note with 1 win, 2 loses, and a draw in November, but they'll be able to use the self belief they've established this season to build towards next season. 6th placed SC Sagamihara strengthened their squad early in the season with former Japan representative Naohiro Takahara, but he was unable to make as big an impact as expected after being forced into retirement through injury. However, they managed to finish the season strongly with 3 wins and 1 lose in November to give them confidence for next season.
7th placed Fukushima United FC under the tutelage of manager Keisuke Kurihara in 2014 worked their way up the table in October, but 1 win and 3 loses in November was a sour note. Although they will be happy with their final game of the season after they downed Ryukyu in exciting circumstances. 8th placed Blaublitz Akita had 1 win, 1 draw, and 2 loses in November. They had a really difficult time earlier in the season with 6 consecutive loses between Rounds 14 and 19. Manager George Yanoshiro asked the team to work on maintaining ball possession, and managed to dominate Tottori with 3 wins from 3 in head-to-head this season.
9th placed FC Ryukyu lost their final 3 games to finish with 1 win from their 4 games in November. They were unable to continue their early form into the second half of the season after they were only team to win their opening 2 games of the season. They had the handicap of long distance travel to all their away games, but they'll be more comfortable with the hectic travel schedule next season. The J-League U-22s finished in 10th. They had 1 win, 1 draw, and 2 loses in November, and finished the season with 9 wins, but 18 loses was the 2nd worst record in the league. There were many games where the team fell to pieces early in the game and were unable to recover. It's difficult to judge the team since their playing roster changed from game to game, but the team provided some valuable experience for many young players who will be able to return to their clubs and force their way into the starting line up. The players shouldn't forget that playing in J3 is an opportunity to hone their skills and get some good competitive experience.
Fujieda MYFC in 11th and YSCC Yokohama in 12th both had difficult seasons. Fujieda lost to Yokohama in Round 32 and finished November with 1 draw, 3 loses, and no wins. However one positive asset for the team is forward Tsugutoshi Oishi who finished 2nd on the goal scorers list with 17 goals. Yokohama had 1 win and 3 loses in November, and only managed 4 wins all season to finish bottom. Their Round 32 win over Fujieda was the only time they managed to win with a clean sheet to give themselves a performance to build on for next season.
Next season Kataller Toyama will be demoting from J2, and Renofa Yamaguchi FC will be promoting from the JFL to add some changes for the 2nd season of the J3. Each team dealt with their own ups and downs, how will they line up next season? Let's hope that the J3 will build on this season to create an even more exciting season in 2015.
Source: http://www.j3league.jp/special/m-report/201411.html
