Machida took all three points last previous round with a dominant 4-1 win over Ryukyu. The J3 title also slipped out of their reach when league leaders Kanazawa downed the J-League U-22 team, but they managed to remain 1 point behind 2nd place Nagano. Thre are only 2 games remaining in their fierce battle for promotion. This game against Fukushima is the final home game of the season at Machida City Athletics Centre. Machida beat Fukushima the last time the teams met, but they'll still want to be careful against the team that gave them their first loss of the season, especially if they want to remain in the hunt for promotion. Last week's match against Ryukyu was controlled by ace forward Koji Suzuki, and some well timed substitutions made some worthwhile contributions with some great team play. Can they use this game to provide some much needed momentum into their final game?
They'll be facing a Fukushima team that will have trouble finding motivation. After 3 consecutive defeats Fukushima may pull back to a more defensive formation and hope to breakdown their opposition by maintaining possession. The decisions of the managers may have a bit impact on the result.
Source: http://match.j3league.jp/match/2014/111601_1.html
