Defending champion Japan returned to the Women’s World Cup final thanks to a 2-1 win over England. After exchanging penalty-kick goals in a first half dominated by the Nadeshiko, the English hadthe better of the second half but fell in stoppage time on an own goal by Laura Bassett. Sunday’s game will mark the first final rematch in Women’s World Cup history: Japan beatthe USA in a shootout tiebreaker after a 2-2 tie in the 2011 final in Germany.
1. Japan will be tough foe the USA.
Japan may have won the semifinal on an own goal,but the defending world champion is more than worthy of a return to the final. It is the only team that has won all its games — and has at times provided some of the tournament’s most polishedsoccer.
The concern for the USA is how the Japanese played in the first half, when they looked like they had extra players on the field. In the English half, they kept possession with crisppasses, swift runs and smart positioning. On the other end, they managed to double-team attackers Lucy Bronze, Toni Duggan and Jodie Taylor.
2. Soccer is a cruel game
Everybody empathizes with Bassett. Hard to keep dry eyes when a player makes a mistake with such profound implications — and to see her and herteammates crying.
“It’s OK to cry,” England coach Mark Sampson said he told his players. “Laura Bassett is devastated after the own goal, but without her wewouldn’t have been in this semifinal. … They left everything on the field. They couldn’t give anything more. They didn’t deserve that.”
It wasn’t an ordinary own goal.This one happened in stoppage time of a world championship semifinal watched by millions around the world — and a stoppage-time decider at that.
But this is soccer, a sport in which scoringis rare. In two semifinals, the five goals came from three penalty kicks, one in the run of play — and the own goal.
Only one other game of the last six in the World Cup saw as many as threegoals. One big mistake can be all it takes. In this game, it came from Bassett at the worst possible time.
“As for the own goal, I feel sorry for the player, but YukiOgimi was right behind her ready to pounce, so I don’t think it would have made a difference either way,” said Japan coach said Norio Sasaki.
Who knows ifOgimi would have finished. But that’s irrelevant now.
3. Japan is a first-half team – or not?
Japan has scored first-half goals in five of its six games. Itlooked sluggish in the second half against England.
Was that because it couldn’t maintain the pace over 90 minutes that enabled it to swarm the field so efficiently in the first half –or because England was so inspired after getting an equalizer shortly before halftime?
The Japanese still managed the counterattack that put Basset in the position to deflect a cross-fieldpass into her own net.
That marked the third game in which Japan got a crucial goal late in a match. (It beat Australia on an 87th minute goal; its deciding goal against the Netherlands camein the 78th minute.)
Going into the final, the one thing that’s clear is Sasaki’s team has a knack for winning. It has won its last nine games at the Women’s World Cup — six in2015 and three in 2011, including the shootout win over the USA in the final — since a 2-0 loss to England in the last game of the group stage four years ago after it had already clinchedsecond-round passage.
TRIVIA. Japan will be aiming to become the second repeat champion after Germany’s 2003 and 2007 victories.
Japan 2 England 1. Goals: Miyama (pen.) 33, Bassett (own goal) 92+; Williams (pen.) 40.
Japan —Kaihori, Iwashimizu, Kumagai, Sameshima, Ariyoshi, Sakaguchi, Miyama, Kawasumi, Utsugi, Ohno (Iwabuchi, 70), Ogimi.
England — Bardsley, Rafferty, Houghton, Bassett, Bronze(A.Scott, 75), Williams (Carney, 86), J.Scott, Moore, Chapman, Duggan, Taylor (White, 60).
Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley (New Zealand).
Att.: 31,467.
No matter who you were rooting for, that was the worst way to end a Women’s World Cup semifinal. We can all feel for the English team and especially for Laura Bassett. If she did not lunge for the ball, maybe Yuki Ogimi scores which would have been a much better ending. There are many good players in different sports who become known for an unfortunate misstep during a critical time in an important game, no matter what they have done in the rest of their career. This might be a small thing but I would much prefer if the summary simply says “Own goal 92+” and does not identify the player who scored the own goal, for this game and all future own goals.
What a way to lose a game. England had the run of play in the second half. They had some great chances to score. The Japanese goalie made one really nice save on an excellent shot. The game can be cruel at times. My heart goes out to Laura Bassett.
Tuff way to bow out U.K. but at least Ms Bassett will never have to pay for Sushi again when she returns home.GO USA!
Randy – your thoughts on the refereeing in the WWC? First PK in last night game may have been tough for the CR to see it was just outside the box, but maybethe AR should have seen it. PK for England looked soft as well. Plays like that, and worse, seem to happen on every corner kick in the EPL.England’s pressure definitely disrupted Japan’s style of play, but in the end I think the better team won. Unfortunately, the 2nd most skillful/technical team, France, got upended in PK’s vs. Germany. Would have like to see how the US wold have done against France in the semis.
The better team overall may have won, but the better team last night definitely did not win. I have not seen Japan play this World Cup but have been reading about how great they play and how exciting they are. Last night I found them to be extremely boring. Sideways and backwards passes over and over and they really didn’t create much at all. The chances they did create came from piercing direct balls through the channels or over Englands back line. From the looks of last night, USA should tear them apart.
surprisingly or not surprisingly, depending on how you view the USWNT, the US has not been able to tear anyone apart. the US only beat Japan in PK’s in the last WWC. The US is far less offensive now but has a slightly stronger defense.I believe Barcelona does a lot of that “sideways and backwards passes over and over again.” Seems to work well for them (Treble). They will lose a game now and then because they can not finish. Both team had chances last night and was a shame it had to come down to an own goal The question is, would Japan have scored had Bassett not deflected the ball or would the defender coming from the weak side have gotten there in time to stop the shot??/ It was a great bending ball in that had bassett beat.
Only an excellent and brave defender can and does make a play on that ball. Bassett just got on the wrong side of fate.USA can now put fate in its own hands. They certainly have the skill, speed, depth and energy to put Japan under enormous pressure, and their back line has been exceptional. Great speed and athleticism in the back 4, backed up by Solo, should hold the line, and USA should emerge with the Cup.
and maybeon the wrong side of the japanese player. but def on the wrong side of fate.Englandd’s speed up top did cause some headaches for Japan so it will be interesting to see. I think if US wins it will be because of the back 4. It is stronger than in 2011 but the offense is not a strong as it was.
All the players looked spent … the ending saved both teams from physical exhaustion – if they had to play 30 more minutes.
Further … looking at the stats … JPN only used one sub at the 70′ mark … and ENG was out of subs … 30 more minutes probably would have favored JPN.
good points. and the sub Japan brought in was starting to breakdown Englands D on the left side and in OT might have been the difference maker. I think hse is only 16 or 17 years old too.
Saw only the first half but Japan seemed to be very relaxed and patient. If I hadn’t known better I’d have thought it was a friendly. Were they saving themselves and letting England wear themselves down? It did seem to be the case. If so, they are a very confident team.
Stewart – England dominated most of the second half and probably would have been better in overtime. England were very close to taking a lead in the 62nd, 64th, and 66th; they were certainly not “wearing down”. Japan were a bit lucky to win, although they were certainly the better side in the first half.
Randy – I would also rather not see the name of the scorer of an own goal out there for posterity, but it has been soccer tradition to list the OG scorer’s name as long as I can remember (four decades) and it probably won’t change.
Having the name of the scorer of the own goal in the official match report just continues to add salt in the wound so I’m glad that Bruce above agrees with me to get rid of it. Regarding John way above, I “ref” every game I watch on TV and sometimes replay confirms I was right and sometimes I am wrong. Live, I thought Japan’s PK call might have been just outside the 18. I did not see a replay that showed that was the case but Joe Machnik said replay showed this so I’ll take his word for it. Regarding England’s PK, there was contact but the attacker embellished and I did not think it was a foul watching live. But the good thing about these PK’s are the refs are not afraid to make important decisions (which often happens as we come to the end of a World Cup) and the games have more scoring than without them. And I like scoring and attempts at goal.
Thanks Randy! I bought your books a couple years ago and recommended it to others.Since the ref was clearly a number of yards behind the play on the first PK, at game speed and from her angle it may have looked just inside the box. The side view (the AR”s view and better camera views) clearly showed it just outside. So this miss is on the AR as much as the CR.As for the England PK, I agree with you. And as mentioned before, a lot worse happens on every corner kcik in the EPL without any call.IMO, I’d like to see the offside rule changed to give the attacking players the benefit of the doubt. I’d also liketo see refs and players take a course on the difference between Ball to Hand and Hand to Ball. : )