The Game: 17/12/2007

I sit here wondering if I'm actually any good at this. If my research truly depended on ethnography or observations of this type, I'm sure that I'd fail. Thank goodness I deal with experimental work! Much less effort is put into it!

Well, this week Anime AFC managed to bring themselves (or at least a lot of themselves) together for a friendly match between themselves. I brought my sister along to watch the game with me, and to basically introduce her to the team that I've been observing/watching for the past year or so. Although she said she enjoyed it, I think there were two things that stopped her from fully enjoying the experience. 1) She had a cold. 2) The boys were playing against each other, instead of another team. It's true, if they were playing against another team, you'd feel that competetive spirit. However when they play themselves, it just feels that there's something lacking, not only that, but that somehow you really see how the boys work (or don't work) together. It was interesting to see how everyone played as the score turned out to be 6-2 (Ken's team to Ryu's team) at the end...

As it turned out Ryu, Batou, Jubei, Togasan, Deejay, Ishikawa and Kaji (along with another player I'm not familiar with) were on one team, while Ken, Yamazaki, Shinji, Aramaki, Vega, Ota and another player I'm not familiar with were on the other. Ryu and Aramaki turned up looking quite ill, although Aramaki looked as though he was ready to just lie down for the rest of the game at one point. However, first thing I told my sister was do not judge Ota by his appearance, and to watch when Shinji ran. Ota is one of the oldest players in the team, with a short and stocky build. However, he never lets that get in the way and once that ball starts moving you can guarantee he's sprinting right after it. There were a couple of times when my sister would show her shock and disbelief at how fast he could run. But that wasn't the best part, I found that he and Vega worked well as a team. Somehow they both had a way about the field that allowed them to work well with each other. Vega is tall and very slim, which allows him a certain amount of speed but impressive agility. I only really started becoming interested in his skills when I realised the man could score goals. I'm not saying he was never a good player, but last season I never really saw him play that much since he was out of a lot of games because of injury. However, this season, although he doesn't play quite as often as he should, he is still very good at passing the ball and with his timing. I think that he and Ota work well together when they pass to each other or work on the same side of the field. There's just something about them that clicks - quite an unlikely pairing.

As always Shinji put on a great performance when he had the ball, however, there are times when I feel that he doesn't push himself more and loses control of the ball too easily. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Yamazaki on the pitch. He seemed very much at home when he was on the pitch, and although I still have to make up my mind as to how I feel about his skills, he seems to know how to throw his weight around and make sure he's light on his feet. As mentioned earlier, Ryu was feeling a little ill (from a fun night out) but it didn't stop him from giving it his best. I sometimes wonder where such a quiet and soft spoken man gets such a contrasting persona from. Off the pitch he comes off as quiet, genial, mild mannered... on the pitch he's loudly supportive, commanding, but most of all he's a smart player. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when he didn't display much fancy footwork so that my sister could see what he was like (but I was also disappointed she didn't get to see Ashitaka*). What I like about Ryu is that although he isn't captain, it doesn't stop him from encouraging his team, shouting orders or taking control. He knows what he's doing and he lets others know...

Since I haven't written the previous games in yet, I guess I have to say it here otherwise it will be pointless to keep it for later. Togasan is a hard working player, he's also passionate and smart. However, there are times when I watch him play and I wonder what it is he's supposed to do. It feels like he has one idea and yet he's being told to do something else. At one game we played there were times when the coach would shout out reminders of what he had told Togasan to remember during the game, and yet I felt as though he had other things in mind. The issue was cleared up afterwards (I basically asked the players what was going on), and this week proved that I was right. Togasan managed to play his own game and work by his own rules. I found that he played better as he knew just what exactly it was that he wanted to do.

Although it is always interesting to watch Ryu and Ken play together (because they really do work so well) it was interesting to see them playing against each other. Somehow, even though I thought the opposite would be true, both of them seem to play similarly. There were times when I saw one of them doing one move and later on the other would do that same move. They don't look alike, they have different looks, builds, and yet their skills do reflect the other. However, although Ken is very skilled and driven, I find he lacks a similar finesse as Ryu. That may seem harsh, but I do think that he will get there... he just needs to be in the games more.

Ishikawa - he comes to most of the games, either as a sub or to spectate and in all honesty I would love to see him play more. He deserves the time because from what I've seen he's very good at what he does.