Japan registered a thumping victory over Spain in their final group stage at the Wellington Regional Stadium. The Asian side made it three wins in three games to March into the knockout stages in style. Japan ended up on the winning side despite having just 23% of the hall possession.
The Futoshi Ikeda coached side capitalised on each and every chance they got throughout the game and made the most of it. Following this wonderful win, the side finished at the top of it’s group’s table with 9 points to their name. Spain on the other hand suffered it’s first loss of this World Cup campaign. The side finished second in its group just below Japan with 6 points in its account. Both these sides will be heading into the Round of 16 stage.
The game began with each of the two sides seeking their chances to attack the opponent’s net. Spain did come close inside the first six minutes when Caldentey’s looping ball went searching for Bonmanti, only for the latter to miss her attempted volley as the ball ran wide. It was Japan who took the lead in the 12th minute thanks to some collective brilliance. Kumagai with a brilliant switch found Endo who in turn curled a pass behind Spain’s defence to find Miyazawa who found the bottom left corner calmly.
Japan doubled their lead in the 29th minute as the Spanish defence stood shellshocked. A cheap turnover from Spain saw Miyazawa and Ueki charge forward on the break. Miyazawa found Ueki on the left hand side of the box as the central forward went for goal with her shot finding the back of the net after taking a big deflection off Paredes. Things went from bad to worse for Spain as Japan scored a third before half time. Ueki and Miyazawa linked up once again with the latter beating Paredes to find Ueki’s throughball before finding the top left corner with a superb first time finish.
Spain did seem to gather some bit of momentum early on in the second half. The side seemed to bring in some form of resurgance in terms of their attacking response. Batlle came close to pulling one back for her side when a pass was slipped in for her in the left hand channel, but she was unable to get enough bend on her shot as her curling attempt went wide of the far post. It was eventually the Japanese side again who wrapped up the game with a fourth goal of the match. Mina Tanaka finished off another Japanese break in style as the substitute opened up her body to execute a delightful shot to find the top left corner. FT:- Japan 4-0 Spain.
