On Thursday 9 August, the U-20 Japan Women's National Team faced the U-20 Spain Women's National Team in their second match of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup France 2018, where they lost the match 0-1.

Japan made three changes in their starting line-up from the first match. Suzuki was given the start at goal, while Ushijima, Takahashi, Minami, and Kitamura formed the defence line. Four players were positioned in the midfield, Miyazawa, Nagano, Hayashi, and Endo, with the two strikers Takarada and Muraoka at top.

The first opportunity for Japan came in the ninth minute, when Forward MURAOKA Mami challenged the opposing defender to win the ball. Midfield Endo Jun collected the ball and dribbled into the penalty area, but the goalkeeper made a fine save to shut down this threat. The opening goal, however, was scored by the Spanish side. In the 16th minute, Spain earned a corner kick on the left side. The ball was delivered into the box as players scrambled to win the ball, and eventually the ball was poked into the goal by Spain’s Menayo, giving her side a one-goal lead.

In the second half, Japan utilised their substitutes as forward UEKI Riko and midfielder MIYAGAWA Asato were brought in to the match in the 59th minute. Soon afterwards, Ueki earned a freekick at the edge of the penalty box, but midfielder NAGANO Fuka’s attempt was denied by the wall created by Spain. Japan continued to threaten the Spanish goal, including Ueki’s mid-range shot, but came short from scoring the equaliser. Spain sustained their one goal lead to win the match and became the group leader, while Japan and the USA shares the second-place spot with three points.

Match details

The U-20 Japan Women's National Team will now play the U-20 Paraguay Women's National Team in their third group stage match on Monday 13 August at 13:30pm local time.

Coach and Players' Comments

IKEDA Futoshi, Coach (U-20 Japan Women's National Team)
It is a disappointing loss, but I think the players prepared themselves well following the match against USA. I sent out the substitutes, Ueki and Miyagawa, by giving them instructions on how to apply the pressure and asked them to get involved with the build-ups to carry the ball upfront. I would like to approach my players on how we should reset our minds and prepare for the match against Paraguay with the given three-day rest.

GK #1 SUZUKI Aguri (Mynavi VEGALTA SENDAI LADIES)
I entered the match with the intention to stay relaxed and play up to my full potential. It is disappointing that we lost a match where we had plenty of chances while our opponents weren’t necessarily dominating the match. We will watch the films of our match and reset our minds ahead of our next match. We must not waste this experience and implement what we’ve learnt in this match into our trainings from tomorrow.

FW #11 TAKARADA Saori (CEREZO OSAKA SAKAI LADIES)
We were cautious of Spain’s set-plays, but we still conceded off of it, so that was regretful. During this tournament, I would like to showcase my strengths and find out which aspects are effective, and which aspects I need to improve to perform well at this stage. But for now, as a forward, I will focus to score goals in our next match to contribute for the team.

Schedule

*Local Time, Japan time indicated within the parentheses
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup France 2018

Tournament Dates: Sun. 5 August - Sat. 24 August 2018
Live broadcasting for all of the Japanese matches scheduled on Fuji Television NEXT
Information on live broadcast(Japanese website)
Tournament Information