AUCKLAND, New Zealand — After the Japanese have been eradicated early from the Olympics two years in the past on residence soil, they rebuilt, hiring a brand new coach and specializing in youth.
The outcome? Japan scored in droves on the Women’s World Cup.
Led by coach Futoshi Ikeda, the Nadeshiko racked up 15 objectives, most of any workforce within the match. Surprising younger midfielder Hinata Miyazawa had 5 objectives to guide the sphere, matching Japanese legend Homare Sawa’s document set in 2011.
But it wasn’t fairly sufficient to carry off Sweden, which knocked Japan out of the match with a 2-1 victory in a quarterfinal match on Friday evening. Midfielder Jun Endo sat on the sphere for a very long time after the ultimate whistle, sobbing, as Sweden’s gamers celebrated.
“We knew we were going to play a very skilled and technical team,” Sweden’s Kosovare Asllani mentioned. “We didn’t want them to have a lot of time on the ball, because that’s when they’re the best.”
Amanda Ilestedt scored a first-half objective and Filippa Angeldal transformed a second-half penalty to provide Sweden a 2-0 lead. Japan couldn’t handle to interrupt by means of till Honoka Hayashi’s objective within the 86th minute.
PHOTOS: Japan exits the Women’s World Cup however sees progress in younger squad
“There was a lot of time spent on defense and it was difficult to find our own pace, and we weren’t able to have a good offense,” ahead Mina Tanaka mentioned.
Ikeda mentioned the workforce could possibly be happy with their accomplishments. The Japanese swept the group stage with out conceding a objective, then downed Norway 3-1 within the spherical of 16.
After all, Japan’s workforce was younger, with a median age of simply 24.9 years.
“Since I became coach, I knew I was taking them to the World Cup and I, together with the players, have worked hard to this point,” he mentioned. “The players have become one unit, working in the same direction. We created an environment where each player can grow.”
In 2011, the Japanese downed Sweden 3-1 within the semifinals and went on to carry the World Cup trophy after a penalty shootout with the United States. It was an emotional victory due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan earlier that 12 months.
Japan additionally went to the World Cup closing in 2015 however fell 5-2 to the United States.
Ahead of the 2019 World Cup, Japan employed coach Asako Takakura, the primary girl to handle the nationwide workforce, however the Nadeshiko fell to the Netherlands within the quarterfinals.
After the 3-1 loss to Sweden on the Tokyo Games, Takakura was changed by Ikeda, who coached Japan to the 2018 Under-20 Women’s World Cup title. He helped develop many gamers on the workforce, together with Miyazawa.
Endo, who performs within the United States for Angel City of the National Women’s Soccer League. mentioned the Nadeshiko will now flip to qualifying for the Paris Olympics subsequent summer time.
’We might want to enhance the standard much more,” she mentioned.
Ikeda mentioned he believed the younger gamers will study from the loss.
“They are experiencing the toughness of the world games. They are able to play in these matches. They have to use this as experience toward the Olympics, other preliminaries,” Ikeda mentioned. “We want these younger players to add strength to the Nadeshiko team.”
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