The Nadeshiko, however, were clearly the better side with Riko Ueki opening the scoring within the first 30 seconds. However, Korea Republic fought back in the second half and salvaged a point through Seo Ji-youn five minutes from time.  

Ikeda, who led Japan to their first-ever FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup title in 2018, was pleased with finishing as group winners but felt that they should have done more in a match where they had over 64 percent possession and 15 shots. 

“First of all, I’m glad we passed the group stage in first place,” said Ikeda. 

“However, although we controlled much of the match, we needed to play better in the second half. 

“It’s good that we’ve qualified for the quarter-finals, but we need to convert our chances.”

Ikdea, however, paid tribute to how his players have adapted to his methods. 

“Every player is important to me. We play as one group. Every single player showed a good performance when they were on the pitch, so every player has impressed me.”

One player who impressed against Korea Republic was Yui Hasegawa, named most valuable player for a second time in India 2022. 

The West Ham United midfielder, however, is still not satisfied and wants to keep doing better as Japan look to make it a hat-trick of titles. . 

“I’m not really satisfied with today’s result, but happy that we took the top spot,” said Hasegawa. “One disturbing aspect was that when Korea changed their play in the second half, we couldn’t manage the game, and I’d like to see us improve on that point in the next match"

“Not losing makes us more confident, but we play to win, so I’m not satisfied.”

Japan will face Thailand in the quarter-finals on Sunday with a win to take them into a last four clash against either China PR or Vietnam.