Last weekend, SFIDA Setagaya won a football match.
And it was brilliant.
Not because it rescued the season or dramatically changed everything that came before it. It didn’t. It was brilliant because supporting SFIDA is supposed to be fun, and for 90-odd minutes against Asahi Intecc Loveledge Nagoya, it really was.
Two goals. A clean sheet. Away from home. Against a team sitting second in Nadeshiko League Division 1.
Misuzu Uchida scored. The defence held. Mio Otsuka was excellent. The final whistle arrived without some horrible little 90+ number appearing next to an opposition goalscorer.
I was overjoyed.
Now Nittaidai SMG Yokohama are coming to Ajinomoto Field Nishigaoka on Sunday and I have developed an extremely dangerous new condition.
Optimism.
I want another one.
We Can Actually Look Forward To This One
The 2-0 victory over Nagoya ended a three-match losing streak, but more importantly, it gave us something enjoyable to carry into Sunday.
SFIDA played well.
They pressed Nagoya into uncomfortable situations, took their opportunities and then defended their advantage properly. When Nagoya pushed, SFIDA resisted. When Takashi Hamada needed to reinforce things late on, Sara Unai and Yunoka Arakawa arrived in the 79th minute and helped see it through.
It was controlled.
That last word has not always featured prominently in my descriptions of SFIDA matches this season.
There have been enough late goals, near misses and strange collapses already. We know about them. They have happened. They do not need inviting to Nishigaoka on Sunday.
Instead, there is an opportunity to build upon something good.
And Nittaidai are an opponent SFIDA already know they can beat.
We Have Already Done This Once
Back in April, SFIDA went to Nippatsu Mitsuzawa and won 3-2.
It wasn’t exactly peaceful.
Misuzu Uchida scored after four minutes, Hazakura Yamamoto equalised, Uchida restored the lead, Mikoto Abe made it 2-2 and Shinko Kitagawa finally settled everything in the 82nd minute.
Five goals. Three points.
Thank you very much.
That result also continued what has become a pretty encouraging recent record against Nittaidai. Across the last 10 league meetings, SFIDA have won five, Nittaidai two and three have finished level.
SFIDA are unbeaten in the last three, scoring eight goals across those matches.
And Nittaidai arrive this weekend in particularly poor form.
None of that guarantees anything.
It does, however, provide considerably more reason for excitement than desperately trying to manufacture optimism from a fixture in which every available statistic is screaming at you to stay indoors.
SFIDA can win this.
We know because they already have.
Misuzu Uchida Quite Likes Playing Nittaidai
There is also the small matter of Misuzu Uchida.
She scored twice against Nittaidai in April.
She scored against Nagoya last weekend.
She now has 13 league goals this season.
So yes, I would quite like to see her near the Nittaidai penalty area again.
Uchida has become such a reassuring presence in this SFIDA team because there is always the possibility that something will happen when she gets an opportunity. She doesn’t require SFIDA to completely dominate matches. Sometimes the opening only needs to exist for a moment.
Against Nittaidai earlier this season, she needed four minutes.
Her second arrived in the 63rd.
Now she returns to Nishigaoka having scored in SFIDA’s best result for quite some time.
And We Have A New Player
I really want to see Ami play.
I just want to discover what SFIDA have got.
Takeuchi’s numbers for Lion City Sailors were absurd: 60 league goals in 16 matches, including nine in a single 20-0 victory.
The standard is different. Takeuchi herself has openly acknowledged that the level of women’s football in Japan and Singapore is “quite different.”
That’s fine.
The interesting part starts now.
She is 20 years old, 156cm and describes herself as a player whose strength begins with defending from the front, “running around like a mouse” before turning that work into attacking opportunities.
That sounds fun.
Maybe the goals translate. Maybe they don’t. Maybe she becomes an immediate option alongside Uchida and Mizuki Horie. Maybe her pressing gives SFIDA something completely different. Maybe she needs time.
I don’t know.
That’s why I want to watch her.
There is something genuinely exciting about having a completely new attacking ingredient dropped into the team with five league matches remaining.
Release the mouse.
Mayu Yaguchi Is Settling In Nicely Too
And Ami isn’t the only recent arrival giving us something new to follow.
Mayu Yaguchi looks increasingly comfortable in this SFIDA team.
Her move from JEF United Chiba Ladies was always an interesting one because it represented an opportunity to finally accumulate meaningful senior football after spending years within the JEF system.
She spoke about wanting to work hard enough that she could “affirm this decision and my past self.”
There is something rather lovely about watching that process happen.
Mid-season transfers can feel awkward. A player arrives after everyone else has already established relationships, rhythms and roles. The season doesn’t stop and politely allow the newcomer three weeks to figure everything out.
Yaguchi has adapted well.
She increasingly looks less like SFIDA’s new signing and more like a SFIDA player.
And suddenly, between Yaguchi settling, Takeuchi arriving, Uchida scoring and Horie continuing to offer that physical focal point in attack, there are several individual stories worth getting excited about.
That’s a nice feeling.
Optimistic from Nagoya and Leeds
Our head coach jostled with his post match comment.His warning against the idea that “victory makes us right” was sensible. One excellent result shouldn’t obscure mistakes or suddenly convince everyone that the previous difficulties have disappeared.
But supporters are allowed to be slightly less sensible.
We don’t have to conduct a technical review immediately after every moment of happiness.
Sometimes your team wins 2-0 away against the side sitting second and you are allowed to spend the next week thinking:
Sunday is an opportunity to take that feeling home.
The press worked against Nagoya. The defensive changes worked. Otsuka produced another performance suggesting SFIDA have an enormously exciting young goalkeeper. Uchida scored again.
Do those things again.
And perhaps this time there is Yaguchi growing further into the side.
Perhaps we get our first proper look at Takeuchi.
Perhaps Uchida continues doing what Uchida does.
There are worse ways to spend a Sunday.
I for one, watching from Leeds; will be optimistic that the performance seen in the away win can be brought into this match.
There are still players arriving, young players developing, Uchida scoring, Horie battling centre-backs and Otsuka stretching those enormous 180cm limbs across the goal.
I Am Choosing Optimism
Nittaidai arrive in poor form.
SFIDA beat them earlier this season.
SFIDA have the better recent head-to-head record.
Uchida scored twice against them and comes into this match having scored again last weekend.
And SFIDA have just gone away to the team sitting second in the league and beaten them 2-0.
So I am allowing myself this.
I am hopeful. Actually excited.
Last weekend we won a game of football.
I was overjoyed.
This Sunday, I get to watch SFIDA Setagaya again.
And I want another win.
doragon sports 