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Hachioji Park, Sat 8th November.
It was a cold afternoon and after arriving at the pitch significantly early because construction at Ikebukero seemed finally complete the Barbs had plenty of time to cool off prior to their game with third Division F.C. Sun. The Barbs opponents’ spot in their division’s table didn’t strike fear into their hearts and despite their decent size for a Local squad they went into the game somewhat confident with a core of regulars and a handful of subs. With Toshi and Sami upfront, Paul, John, Nick, and Kanako in the middle and Austin, Fred, Hiro, and Hideki in D, the only question was if our Valderama haired keeper was going to turn out more Jore Campos then Slash… He was tested early and they got the better of the Barbs off the bat, sliding one home to go ahead 1-0.
The Barbs weren’t to be discouraged though and thanks to the good control from Paul in the middle and some through balls to Sami and Toshi the Barbs soon had them on the defensive and physically overmatched. As a result there were a series of stoppages and free kicks, one of which fell to Toshi who slotted home after some good hustle and a dummy by Fred (which he was keen to call a touch) the Barbs quickly leveling the contest 1-1. The physical match soon led to a number of dangerous dead balls and free kicks from the Barbs one of which was from the 23yd box and Paul almost channeled his powerful free kicks from warmups to put the team ahead, but F.C. Sun’s makeshift keeper managed to gather his own rebound. On the next opportunity though Toshi’s corner was headed down to Paul from John and he was able to calmly convert from the 9yard box. The action didn’t stop there though and Kanako played a throw-in from deep in Barbs territory in to John who controlled and looked to flick on to the charging Toshi who was viciously hauled down for the first of the 2 penalties awarded to the Barbs on the day. Freddy confidently stepped up and in spite of some help from a slightly busted Goal Post sent his effort careening off the bar and out of danger. The beneficiary of Fred’s missed opportunity was John as he was inline to take the next one, given after Paul got tackled from behind en route to head home a picture perfect cross. John’s penalty was only 2/3’s of the way towards the upper left corner but against Sun’s second improvised keeper it was good enough. 3-1 into the half.
There was a small element of pleasant surprise with the first half outcome at the break and calls for even more intensity for the second. However the momentum shifted noticeably from the first whistle with their anchor Freddy sacrificing himself to insert the subs and giving Toshi a breather in anticipation of a strong finish. The realization that “these guys aren’t that bad” at half-time soon felt more like a premonition as the underdogs began to solidify their passing attack and were awarded a spotty foul against Hideki outside the edge of the box after 10 minutes. They took advantage of what seemed like a small Woodstock flashback for our Hendrix look-alike keeper to lob one in unchallenged that wasn’t so much a good shot as on target. The Barbs were notably panicked and with John moved to the back line looked nowhere near as in control as the first half. It only took another good passing attack and finish from a good cross to convince the team they needed Freddy’s services in goal.
Now tied 3-3, the Barbs realized they needed to take back control and were confident they could do so with the good combination of Paul and Nick in midfield and Toshi back in upfront, but they were unable to control the ball or spread the field well enough and the dangerous corners and another call for a penalty went unrewarded. Fred made some good saves, but in the end the opponent’s counterattack got the better of the Barbs and they were beaten on their marks by a corner to go down 4-3. Toshi opportunistically shot the kick-off towards the goal because the keeper was celebrating a bit to voraciously and was unlucky to hit the post for his excellent heads-up effort. After inserting Kanako on the left-side and reminding Kimura he was playing right there was still a glimmer of hope, but when they went down 5-3 their spirits deflated. Only at this point did Austin, who had been a rock in defense all day after geting booked earlier for a ticky-tack slide tackle, let the emotions everyone was sharing get the better of him and get shown the matador’s cape for a somewhat harmless school boy expression.
In the end the Barbs were left to ponder what could have been and whether or not their opponents’ jerseys were really supposed to read F.C. “SUT” as they shuffled off the field. It wasn’t our day and our opportunistic draw in opponents was undone by the failure to maintain our strong momentum.
Get them next time.
Report by 'John MacAloon '
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