FC Ryukyu v Sagamihara — prediction, stats and goal analysis

J3 League · Saturday, 29 August 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 47% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals47%53%Under
Over 3.5 goals25%75%no pick
Both teams to score53%47%Yes

The result model puts FC Ryukyu at 35%, the draw at 27% and Sagamihara at 38%, from expected goals of 1.25 and 1.32.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. J3 League has produced over 2.5 goals in 48% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. FC Ryukyu have 1 in 2 this season, Sagamihara 2 in 3 (1 of 1 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 48% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 2 and 3 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 45% and 42%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 44%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 50%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 45%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 47%, from expected goals of 1.25 for FC Ryukyu and 1.32 for Sagamihara. Folding in 30% of that view gives 46%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 47%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
FC Ryukyu250%50%50%
Sagamihara367%33%67%

Head to head

16 Nov 25Sagamihara 4–1 FC RyukyuO2.5
5 Apr 25FC Ryukyu 2–0 SagamiharaU2.5
12 Oct 24FC Ryukyu 2–1 SagamiharaO2.5
17 Mar 24Sagamihara 0–0 FC RyukyuU2.5
26 Aug 23FC Ryukyu 0–4 SagamiharaO2.5
28 May 23Sagamihara 0–0 FC RyukyuU2.5

More: FC Ryukyu season stats · Sagamihara season stats · J3 League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.