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Oi Futo, Sunday 4th March, A gorgeous day it was, the 4th day of March in Tokyo, it is a pity that it had to be marred by one of the ugliest exhibitions of "not quite sure what" that I have witnessed in a number of years. So instead of writing up what was a truly miserable display, I've chosen to pay homage to the most durable pitch that I have played on over the last 17 years in Tokyo, Oifuto Dai Ichi.
This is a pitch that anyone who has ever played overseas looks on with despair - a pile of dirt. It was actually feared when you were scheduled for a 9 am kickoff, the possibility of a last minute cancellation due to 10 minutes of rain in spite of having traveled hours to get there. The best of times were in the early spring when a little wetness on the pitch made it crisp, for the first 20 minutes anyway, and you could actually pass the ball on the ground and attack the defenders. The width was always a pleasure when the alternative was playing on the kiddy pitch at St. Mary's, the ability to escape from the Sumo like thrusts of the Hibs defenders with just a little running room made it an easy comparison. I would say the quality of it is even better than the cabbage patch of YCAC - there is no question that it is 100% dirt! The "tsuchi" of Oifuto has seen some great games - games of spirit as opposed to skill because the bounces you get are never true and it adds a degree of difficulty that even the diving judges couldn't think up (such as adding mines to the pool area to turn the difficulty dial up to "11"). The proximity of it to central Tokyo made it more accessible than many of the pitches I have played on and it was reliable, in the sense that you didn't have a cabbage patch bounce here and there, and you would have to stop it, control it and look before thinking if the pile of dirt next to the ball was too big for that long ball to the corner. It was always a pleasure playing at Oifuto and now that this old dog is getting ready to call it a career, time to pay credit where it is due.
By the way, the Jets did beat the Swiss 2-1 on a couple of defensive blunders and poor finishing by the Swiss. The Jets puffed harder and they deserved it based on that measure. But, as I wrote in the first line of this brief story, "not quite sure what" is probably the best definition of what the 25/6 people that were assembled did.
Report by Cap'n Kirk.
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