🏏 Sat, 5 Sep 2026 19:00 JST
Avispa Fukuoka
vs
Mito Hollyhock
3-4-2-1 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Avispa Fukuoka sit 18th on three points from one win and four defeats, and although their goal difference of minus one is far from disastrous, they have lost four in a row since matchday two. Tokyo Verdy (19th, two points) and JEF United Chiba (20th, zero) are lurking below. Mito Hollyhock arrive seventh on eight points from two wins, two draws and one defeat, five behind leaders FC Machida Zelvia on 13.
- Fukuoka's only victory came on matchday two, a 3-0 home win over Cerezo Osaka. Since then they have lost 3-2 at Kashima, 2-1 at Kyoto Sanga and 3-2 at home to Urawa — three consecutive one-goal defeats. Eight goals in five matches suggests the attack is functioning; it is the nine conceded that has cost them.
- Mito are unbeaten in four, a run of draw-win-draw-win. They won 3-1 away at Kyoto Sanga on matchday three and then beat third-placed Kashima 4-2 at home on matchday five. Ten goals in five games is a serious return for a side seventh in the table, and it reflects a willingness to attack rather than sit deep.
- The shape battle is Fukuoka's 3-4-2-1 against Mito's 4-4-2. Fukuoka use Daiki Fukazawa, 28 and a natural left-back, on one flank and the two-footed Yu Hashimoto, 24, on the other, stretching the pitch through their wing-backs. Mito's answer depends on whether wide midfielders Kaito Taniguchi, 30, and Yoshiki Torikai, 28, can track back quickly enough to keep their bank of four intact.
- There is a Fukuoka University thread running through this fixture. Mito's 33-year-old centre-back Yasuki Kimoto, who has played top-flight football for FC Tokyo, Sagan Tosu, Nagoya Grampus and Cerezo Osaka, graduated from Fukuoka University. So did two of the home side's key men: midfielder Masato Shigemi, 24, and right-sided Yu Hashimoto, who topped the Kyushu university league assist charts with 16 in 21 matches.
- Aerial duels will matter at both ends. Fukuoka's lone striker Werik Popo, a 24-year-old Brazilian, stands 190cm, won the Copa Sao Paulo golden boot and arrived via Fagiano Okayama. He will be handled by the 184cm Akinari Kawazura and the 183cm Kimoto. At the other end Mito's 186cm forward Kotaro Uchino faces a back three anchored by the 185cm pair Masaya Tashiro, 33, and Teppei Oka, 24, the latter on loan from FC Tokyo until mid-2027.
- Mito's strike partnership is a study in contrasts. Uchino, 21, was the leading scorer at the national high school championship with Shohei High School, moved on through Tsukuba University and has been capped by Japan's under-22s, offering hold-up play and penalty-box finishing. Alongside him, 31-year-old Arata Watanabe captained Oita Trinita and has already won back-to-back monthly MVP awards since joining Mito.
- Both midfields lean on small, technical players. Mito's Taishi Semba, 27 and just 164cm, came through Sanfrecce Hiroshima's academy and represented Japan at youth level, while the 165cm Yoshiki Torikai scored nine goals in 33 second-tier games for Ventforet Kofu in 2025. Fukuoka counter with Tomoya Miki, 28 and 171cm, who wore the number 10 shirt at Tokyo Verdy and now operates in one of the two shadow-striker slots.
- Two of Fukuoka's substitutes know Mito well. Left-back Yota Maejima, 29, came through Yokohama FC's academy and had a spell at Mito before signing permanently for Fukuoka in 2022, while the 186cm Daiki Miya, 30, also has Mito on a CV that includes Sagan Tosu and Vissel Kobe. Fukuoka can also introduce Shintaro Nago, 30, who scored five goals in 36 top-flight games for Kashima in 2024, and Keiya Shiihashi, 29, formerly of Nagoya Grampus and Kashiwa Reysol.
- The goalkeeping matchup is worth watching. Fukuoka's Kazuki Fujita, 25 and 186cm, was raised in Albirex Niigata's academy and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, having featured in Japan's youth setups. Mito's Konosuke Nishikawa, 23, made 34 second-division appearances as Oita Trinita's first-choice keeper and uses his distribution to start attacks. Waiting on Mito's bench is 35-year-old Poland goalkeeper Jakub Slowik, a 190cm veteran of FC Tokyo and Vegalta Sendai.