Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women’s National Team) took on DPR Korea on Wednesday 9 March at Kincho Stadium in Osaka in their final match at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Asian Qualifiers Final Round. Japan grabbed a 1-0 win thanks to substitute forward IWABUCHI Mana's goal, capping the tournament in third place with seven points – two wins, two losses and one draw.

Australia and China, who had already sealed an Olympic spot, shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw, finishing atop the overall standings with 13 points and second with 11 points respectively. With a 4-0 victory over Vietnam, Korea Republic settled for fourth place, earning five points ahead of DPR Korea on goal difference. Vietnam failed to earn any point and ended up in sixth place.

Japan made eight changes to the starting lineup featured in the fourth match two days ago with YAMANE Erina as the goalkeeper, KINGA Yukari, IWASHIMIZU Azusa, KUMAGAI Saki and ARIYOSHI Saori on defence and MIYAMA Aya and SAKAGUCHI Mizuho at defensive midfield. Coach SASAKI placed SAMESHIMA Aya at left midfield and NAKAJIMA Emi at right midfield, while YOKOYAMA Kumi and OGIMI Yuki played upfront.

Although Japan's hope for their fourth straight, fifth total, Olympic berth was extinct before their fourth match, captain Miyama said to her teammates before the match, "let's go for a win, taking it as one of the Japan National Team matches as we always do." Despite the waterlogged pitch due to the torrential rain from the morning, Japan controlled the game with dynamic, collective play and got into the flow of the game from the start.

In the 13th minute, Sakaguchi reacted to a through ball in front of goal and met it with her header and, just one minute later, Miyama threatened the opponents with a shot from the edge of the box. In the 30th minute, Ogimi met Ariyoshi's floated pass from the midfield after a corner kick, but her header went off the post.

Having maintained their unbeaten run against Japan with two wins and two draws since September 2011, DPR Korea went aggressively on offence, taking advantage of their physical strength. After 20 minutes, forward KIM Yun Mi and midfielder WI Jong Sim came close one after another, but Japan coped with them with tenacious defence. After Wi intercepted a pass in the midfield in the 27th minute, forward RA Un Sim received it and fired a shot, but goalkeeper Yamane made a save.

After finishing the first half 0-0, Japan subbed in Iwabuchi for Sameshima and shifted Nakajima down to the defensive midfield position and Miyama up to left midfield to make the system more offensive. Then, their attacking was more activated as Miyama slotted a cross from Iwabuchi's pass in the 56th minute and Iwabuchi tried to meet it by rushing into the box.

10 minutes later, Yokoyama fired Miyama's pass with her right foot and Ogimi and Nakajima, too, took a shot apiece, but Japan continued struggling to score a goal.

In the 80th minute after their relentless attacks, however, Miyama fed a cross to Iwabuchi at the far post after Yokoyama laid Ariyoshi's pass to Miyama. Then, Iwabuchi headed home for her side's long-awaited goal.

Two minutes later, DPR Korea, who were striving for a comeback, came close after DPR Korea's left corner kick, but Miyama cleared Ra Un Sim's header on the goal line.

Japan secured the lead until the end, finishing the match 1-0. The victory was Japan’s first one in five matchups against DPR Korea since November 2010. Starting from the 3-2 win at the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2008, Japan improved a total record against DPR Korea under the Sasaki Norio's reign to four wins, two losses and three draws.

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Coach and Players' Comments

SASAKI Norio, Coach
As the players looked forward and did a good job keeping their chin up based on the reflection from the past three matches, this match turned out to be what leads to our future. I feel really responsible for not leading them to be such an attitude from the first match. We failed to get into the flow in the opener because Australia's quality was high and they played more smoothly moving the ball and more collectively than we expected. That's the big miscalculation. Since 2008, there have been more teams globally who've got high-level skills and tactics, and you don't win so easily.

Each one of the players needs to keep that in mind and brush themselves up in their daily training. And remembering the fact we couldn't get a ticket to the Olympics, hopefully they will take advantage of this experience as an opportunity to change themselves. They still have plenty of possibilities, and I hope they will move forward with confidence. I've been really happy to be with them playing football and got a big treasure from them.

MF #8  MIYAMA Aya (OKAYAMA YUNOGO BELLE)
Everyone was uplifted for the match. I feel pathetic because we weren't able to get a ticket to Rio, where we'd been heading, but we including our staff members are here because of our continuous efforts. Remembering that, we will keep playing football to win against opponents. It's important how we will take advantage of this experience.

FW #16  IWABUCHI Mana (FC Bayern Munich/Germany)
I'm glad we got together battling it out and could get a win in the end. I was determined to finish up with a win together with these teammates. We are restarting from nothing. I will try to create a team who can be supported by people.

FW #10  OGIMI Yuki (1. FFC Frankfurt/Germany)
Every player was trying to get the ball from the front and that led us to keep them from scoring in the first half. That's the part we changed from the first four matches. By being more conscious about how we work on football in our daily life, we can go up to a higher level as a team and become a team who can get the world title again.

GK #12  YAMANE Erina (JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA LADIES)
I went out for the match with a determination that the pitch was the only place where I could retake my responsibility. I will try to be an important goalkeeper who can shore up the team by making saves in front of goal whenever necessary and repay the team in the following four years.

KIM Kwang Min, Coach (DPR Korea Women's National Team)
Our Olympic hope was gone before the match, but it was competitive and intense.  We lost, but my players did their best and got a lot of experience out of the tournament.

Nadeshiko Channel (Japanese version only)

Schedule

*The schedule and venues are subject to change.

2016 Plenus Nadeshiko League 26, 27 March kicked off! (Japanese version only)