Sunday, June 14, 2009

R21 vs Shonan Bellmare

FC Gifu 2 - 2 Shonan Bellmare (ht 1-1)

What a cracker of a game! 6600 odd people came out on a warm sunny Gifu day to witness a great match between league leaders Shonan and 14th placed Gifu. Without captain Kan Kazunori and DF Shuuto Tanaka this was always going to be a tough game.
When I arrived at the game I was shocked to find out that Gifu super star FW Atsushi Katagiri had just settled a deal with Ventforet Kofu for the rest of the season and this would be his last game in Gifu colors. He, along with Moriyama, were two of the most influential players to bring Gifu out of the regional leagues and into the J2. Those two players are also probably the most famous players to come from Gifu Prefecture.
So a bit more spice was added to the game, and it didn't disappoint!
Gifu hit the lead first in the 42nd minute through DF Tominari, but the lead only lasted a minute as Shonan belted in a goal one minute later to equal the score at half time.
In the second half Gifu again hit the lead in the 25th minute with a beautiful driving shoot to DF Akita. Again though, 10 minutes later Shonan struck back for the equaliser. The final few minutes were frantic but again the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Gifu shot 14 to Shonan's 7 and were the dominant side but once again lacked the composure to hold their leads or to get the winning goal.
Gifu once again missed out on their chance to defeat Shonan for the first time but still it was a very positive result for the team. The next game will be a big one though. Away to bottom placed Okayama. On form that they should win this game, but unfortunately, like todays result, form often doesn't mean much on the day.

2 comments:

Arne said...

Yo Richy, saw the highlights, seemed like one of the better games of Gifu this season.

What I was wondering about; the banner behind goal reading "Techniek Hartstocht", do you know who put it there?? Those are the Dutch words for technique and passion/spiritedness, I'm very curious what other Dutch/Belgian FC Gifu fans, living in Japan as it seems, are out there.

richy said...

Arne mate,
Its funny you say that, I noticed that sign for the first time too that game, and was wondering what it meant!
I'm not sure who made it (most likely a Japnese fan) but I thought it was in reference to Suguru Hashimoto who played for Veille BK (spelling??) in Denmark last year. But that wouldn't be right would it??

I'll ask around for ya!