Japan beat Norway 3-1 to book their place in the quarter-finals at the Women’s World Cup and will advance to play the winner of tomorrow’s clash between Sweden and the United States in the quarter-finals.
Risa Shimizu and Hinata Miyazawa both scored to help Futoshi Ikeda’s secure the win, in what was a captivating game of football.
Japan took the lead after 15 minutes, with Ingrid Engen tapping Miyazawa’s cross into the back of her net. Goalkeeper Aurora Watten Mikalsen scrambled to try and save the own goal, but her attempts were in vein, with the score being the first goal Hege Riise’s side’s have conceded at the Women’s World Cup.
Norway equalised just five minutes later, with Mikalsen sending a direct ball upfield to find Vilde Boe Risa on the right flank.
The Manchester United midfielder advanced forward before playing an excellent cross into the penalty area, which was met by Guro Reiten on the edge of the six-yard box, who rose high into the air and head the ball into the top-left corner of the goal.
Japan beat Norway 3-1 to book their place in the quarter-finals at the Women’s World Cup
Norway went a goal down in the first half with Ingrid Engen conceding an own goal to give Japan the advantage
Japan will now advance to play the winner of tomorrow’s clash between Sweden and the USA
Similarly, it was the first goal Japan had conceded at the tournament so far, but they continued to press on the Norwegian side.
And while their attack was impressive but they lacked the clinical edge they showed during their epic 4-0 win against Spain last week.
They moved the ball well and pressed on their opposition, getting plenty of numbers inside the Norway penalty area, dominating for much of the first-half.
But as threatening as Japan were with the ball at their feet, they didn’t have a shot on target in the first half.
Yui Hasegawa was a standout throughout, threading her way into the Norway penalty area on multiple occasions, while Miyazawa was equally impressive in attack.
With the scores level at 1-1, Japan continued to advance on the Norway goal after half-time and had their first shot on target in the 47th minute, with Hasegawa breaking through into the box to get a shot away at Mikalsen.
Guro Reiten (pictured) would score a sublime header to level the scores just five minutes later
Risa Shimizu (first right) put Japan back in the lead after half-time, taking advantage on a lapse in concentration at the back from Norway
It was Shimizu (middle) goal at the tournament, and she wheeled away to celebrate with Yui Hasagawa (right) after scoring
After managing to weather the advances of Hasegawa, a lapse in concentration saw Boe Risa misplace a pass to West Ham star, Shmizu, who pounced on the opportunity and put Japan ahead on the 50th minute.
It was a close range effort, with Egen just getting a touch on the shot, but she could not prevent the score, with the ball deflecting into the goal.
Norway came narrowly close to an equaliser soon after, with Karina Saevik getting lucky from a pass that deflected off a Japan defender, to put her clear inside the penalty area. But the angle was too tight and she couldn’t curl her right footed shot around the goalkeeper and into the net, flashing her attempt across the face of the goal.
Despite Norway’s best efforts to rescue an equaliser, Miyazawa put the game beyond their reach, taking advantage of a superb pass from Aoba Fujino, that cut the opposition defence in two, enabling her team-mate to break free and slot her fifth goal of the tournament past Mikalsen.
Norway attacked late on the Japanese goal with Ayaka Yamashita being called upon to stop a last-gasp header from Saevik, sticking out her left arm to pull off a sensational save.
Japan were forced to work for the win despite holding the two-goal lead, but held on to their opposition’s late advances and book their place in the quarter-finals of the competition.