Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Baku: Tournament favourites Japan crashed out of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2012 after they were stunned 1-0 by Ghana following a big goalkeeping mistake in their quarter-final match at 8-km Stadium, Azerbaijan.
The Young Nadeshiko came into the game as the competition’s top scorers, having scored 17 goals and conceding none throughout the competition, apart from having a perfect record of three wins out of as many games at the group stage.
Sherifatu Sumaila proved to be the one to dash the Japanese’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals as eight minutes after the break, she was let to run a long way down the right wing, and even she would not have expected goalkeeper Chika Hirao to allow her tame cross-come-shot through her legs.
It was the first goal the Japanese had conceded in 364 minutes, a new tournament record, though they were unlikely to celebrate the feat in the circumstances.
“After the group phase everyone was talking about how great Japanese football was and how we were going to be champions at this World Cup,” said Japan captain Yui Narumiya.
“I’m really pleased that our football was rated so highly by fans and experts alike, though that did pile extra pressure on our shoulders.
“They’re (Ghana) really quick and they go in very strongly for challenges, which perhaps intimidated us a little bit. In my case at least, I struggled to overcome that fear.
“After racking up such big scores in the first phase, we may have taken our foot off the pedal a bit. It was the first time we’d played against an African team, so it was a new experience for us.
“It’s not that we thought it’d be easy to reach the final, but we didn’t think our remaining games would be so difficult. We thought we’d just be able to go out there and play our football without worrying too much about our opponents.”
“Clearly, our players are smaller, which made it a very difficult game for them, but even so we were expecting this kind of tough match,” said Hiroshi Yoshida, Japan coach.
“We only slipped up once at this tournament but we paid a very heavy price, though I’m hoping my players learn from this match.
“This World Cup is not easy to win and I'm confident the experience they’ve gained here will help them learn and improve ahead of upcoming championships, such as the U-20 World Cup in two years’ time,” hoped Yoshida, who is also coach for the U-20 squad.