I’m late.
Very late, actually.
SFIDA Setagaya played Iga FC Kunoichi Mie on Saturday, September 5, and for various reasons involving mental health, an absurdly busy schedule and life generally deciding that my calendar needed to become some kind of endurance sport, I didn’t get around to watching it live.
But I’m here now.
SFIDA are back.
The Nadeshiko League is back.
And after three consecutive defeats before the summer break, perhaps a few weeks away from competitive football was exactly what everyone needed.
Clear the heads. Reset. Come back refreshed.
Please.
Mayu Yaguchi, Welcome to SFIDA
Something immediately interesting about the starting XI.
Mayu Yaguchi starts.
Mitsuki Horie being on the bench is slightly more puzzling.
She has been one of SFIDA’s more reliable sources of goals, yet this is becoming a recurring sight. For whatever reason, Takashi Hamada has increasingly preferred alternatives from the start.
Anyway.
New signing. New half-season.
New SFIDA?
Ninety seconds in, Iga attack.
Never mind.
Fortunately, Nana Watanabe is there.
My hero.
Danger neutralised.
Football Is Technically Occurring
Three minutes and 20 seconds.
SFIDA launch what I can only describe as an attack because the ball travels vaguely towards Iga’s goal.
It doesn’t do much.
But we have a corner shortly afterwards.
Several SFIDA players gather for a surprisingly deep tactical conference before the delivery. There appears to be a plan. Perhaps something elaborate has been cooked up during the summer break.
The header goes over.
Goal kick.
At 7:23, we have a long shot.
Also nothing.
The Iga goalkeeper has already had plenty of opportunities to practise taking goal kicks, which I suppose is something.
Around 12 minutes, a pattern is developing.
Iga are comfortable.
Too comfortable.
They are seeing plenty of the ball through midfield and being allowed to advance towards the SFIDA penalty area without facing enough resistance. There isn’t an overwhelming Iga siege, but that’s almost what makes it frustrating.
Everything is just…
tame.
Nana Watanabe produces another important clearance.
Naturally.
Can Somebody Plug This Match In?
At 12:56, SFIDA make a decent little move forward.
We cross halfway.
There’s a lobbed pass.
It doesn’t connect.
Move over.
Then comes a moment around the 21st minute that probably encapsulates why watching this version of SFIDA can become so frustrating.
We have a throw-in.
Ayaka Nemoto has the ball.
Mayu Yaguchi starts moving toward the touchline, but there’s little communication or urgency. The throw eventually comes to her; she gets possession and then hurriedly launches the ball forward.
Iga head it away.
Done.
A complete attacking opportunity disappears without Iga really having to do anything.
I’m not angry about it. It’s a throw-in in the 21st minute of a football match.
But these tiny moments matter.
When you’re tenth in the league, when you’ve lost three consecutive matches and when goals haven’t exactly been falling out of the sky, you cannot continually donate possession through actions that feel improvised.
Twenty-four minutes.
I have reached a conclusion.
This might be the tamest football match I’ve ever watched.
Naturally, approximately one minute later, we have a water break.
Hopefully somebody has hidden a few cans of Red Bull amongst the bottles because both teams could use one.
Something Resembling Football
Thirty minutes.
Something happens.
SFIDA actually work the ball quite nicely, and Ayaka Nemoto gets a decent look towards goal.
Nothing comes from it, but I’ll take it.
The problem throughout this first half isn’t that SFIDA are being battered. They aren’t.
Iga aren’t slicing through the defence every three minutes. There isn’t a heroic last stand occurring around our penalty area.
It’s almost more irritating than that.
Iga look comfortable.
SFIDA look passive.
And the entire match appears perfectly content to wander towards half-time without inconveniencing anybody.
Five SFIDA shots would eventually be recorded across the entire afternoon. Iga would finish with nine.
At this stage, neither statistic feels remotely believable.
Half-time.
SFIDA Setagaya 0-0 Iga FC Kunoichi Mie.
Thrilling.
Didn’t expect that…
The second half begins. Forty-five minutes and 56 seconds.
Free-kick. Saya Shinohara stands over it.
The delivery goes towards the right side of goal.
Misuzu Uchida gets there. Controls it.
The ball pops upwards. And then… What?
Uchida contorts herself towards the ball and produces this wonderful improvised high, almost bicycle-kick finish that flies into the net.
1-0 SFIDA.
Of course this match produces THAT goal.
We have just spent 45 minutes watching football administered at the approximate intensity of a Sunday afternoon garden centre visit and Misuzu Uchida has suddenly decided to score something ridiculous.
It is her 12th goal of the season.
She has passed 200 Nadeshiko League appearances.
And when SFIDA desperately need somebody to drag them out of the sludge, once again, there she is.
Maybe that’s it. Maybe the summer break worked.
Maybe this weird, sleepy little game is exactly what SFIDA needed.
Maybe we grind this out. Maybe Yaguchi’s arrival gives us something different.
Maybe Uchida has just kicked the door open on the second half of the season.
Maybe, after three straight defeats, we’re finally going to win again.
Three minutes later, Mei Karasawa scores for Iga.
1-1.
Fine. Still plenty of time.
Then, in the 72nd minute, Rena Masuda takes a corner.
Mio Shimano heads it in. Her first goal of the season.
doragon sports 