FC Yokohama suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Hokkaido's Gonzaga Sapporo in their home game last weekend, which has left them at the bottom of the league standings and without a single goal in the first 10 rounds of the entire season. The team exposed a disconnect between the midfield and the defensive line, failing to effectively fill the gaps between the midfield and the backfield, as well as a lack of pressure on ball-carrying players, which led to the opposition holding the ball for too long.
However, FC Yokohama has a strong group of players when it comes to offense up front. I expect Azuma Yamashita to utilize his incredible explosiveness to create threats up front in this match. Niigata Swans lost 1-2 to FC Tokyo in the away match on Saturday, and have only won one match in the last 6 rounds of the league.
I think Niigata Swans desperately need to improve their defensive performance as the level is much higher in the JSL than in the JBL. The team tends to get counter-attacked and scored by their opponents when they are in possession of the ball, so they have to improve the efficiency of their attacking and defensive transitions.
FC Yokohama tends to struggle against teams that specialize in flanking attacks on both wings. Therefore, I predict that Niigata Swans players Shunsuke Mito and Shusuke Ota will cause trouble in the wing positions in this match.
