Japan take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Matsukubo in the 55th min. Looking more and more like an all Asian final.
I know the Japan is good but I did not realize exactly how good their defense is. I understand there are a few eligible players that would enhance this team but I am not at all sure the team would be better. Their only apparent real weakness is in their shoot/don't shoot decisions. Of course there is time remaining and the Dutch are not going give up. I think even if they give up another they won't quit, I am quite sure nobody will fail to remember that the USA got to the semifinals by two goals in extra time (last 2-3 minutes of extra time) and the Dutch will not stop playing HARD. Well Japan scores again 2-0. I think they will now play even harder to prevent the Dutch from pulling a USA.
Japan score again 2-0 on second goal from Matsukubo in the 83rd min. Where's @blissett to bask in the glory?
I believe he is Italian or at least lives in Italy so, probably, he is asleep. It is 04:53 in Milan and I think that is where he lives.
He's definitely snoozing then and lost out on a good "live" match, LOL! He's probably going to avoid BS and watch the replay later in the day.
Correct guess that I was definitely sleeping , since I'll soon have to work in the morning and I couldn't afford losing so much sleep or I'd fall asleep at work. I am not even completly sure that I'll find the time to catch up with the whole match later (although I'd want to), so I didn't mind checking the score anyway. The final match is scheduled at 23:00 for me in Italy, so hopefully I should finally manage to watch a Japan's game live at this WWC, for a change. Although I already watched this game at the AFC Championship, that's quite boring!
Well, believe it or not, the missing eligible players would most probably help us with that scoring problem indeed, since most of them are offensive players : Chelsea's Maika Hamano and Manchester City's Aoba Fujino are forwards (by the way, Fujino was most probably perfectly happy to be playing a Champions' League game she won with her team vs Paris FC, yesterday, instead of been at this WWC), while Momoko Tanikawa, despite being a MF, scores a lot of goals in Sweden with Rosengård and showcased her shooting skills at the last Senior World Cup also. Having players in professional environments overseas most probably helps their development a lot: it's not a case that who scored our brace in this last game was Manaka Matsukubo, who's a fixture of North Carolina Courage in NWSL and who's arguably the star of this Japan's youth team along with Maya Hijikata.
1/2 Final USA 0 - 1 KOREA DPR (skrót) I.S. Choe 22' JAPAN 2 - 0 NETHERLANDS (skrót) Matsukubo 55' 83' About the Dutch team in game vs. JPN. It is no secret that youth tournaments, as a rule, serve as a tool for the development of young footballers. The results achieved there are, of course, also important, but the primary goal here is to gain international experience and hone the skills and craft of young football adepts, which in the future will be the fuel and elevator to their professional careers. In yesterday's matches we had a case where two strong teams played against two slightly weaker ones. American team played like they did understand the need for developement process linked to the youth tourneys while the Dutch coaching staff clearly had missed this memo. Tactics calculated for trying to get the result by not playing at all, rare attacking plays based mostly on an attempt to buy something out of nothing - including diving - in order to somehow slip into the final by some big miracle... it all looked very lame to the point of pathetic in some instances. For this reason alone the young Dutch players were notoriously whistled at by a crowd of several thousand Colombian fans. The blame here lies with the Oranje coaching staff, which in the pursuit of results - at all costs - seem to have forgotten about the somewhat broader context of the youth football. Top Scorers 5 Vendito (BRA) 5 Maya Hijikata (JPN)* 5 Il Son Choe (DPK)* 4 Naomi Eto (CMR) 4 Annabelle Chukwu (CAN) 4 Liana Joseph (FRA) 4 Donna Scannapieco (FRA) 4 Loreen Bender (GER) 4 Pietra Tordin (USA)* 3 Kishi Nunez (ARG) 3 Priscilla (BRA) 3 Sophie Nachtigall (GER) 3 Cora Zicai (GER) 3 Manaka Matsukubo (JPN)* 3 Chinari Sasai (JPN)* 3 Mi-ryong Pak (DPK)* 3 Hyang Sin (DPK)* 3 Jone Amezaga (ESP) 3 Ally Sentnor (USA)* *(still playing in tournament)
Referee assignments for the Gold Medal match and 3rd place match from the Law5 Referee Blog: THIRD PLACE FINAL 21 September 2024 USA - NETHERLANDS Referee: Shahenda El-Maghrabi EGY Assistant Referee 1: Soukaina Hamdi MAR Assistant Referee 2: Asma Feriel Ouahab ALG Reserve Assistant Referee: Kim Kyoung-min KOR FINAL 22 September 2024 NORTH KOREA - JAPAN Referee: Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi ITA Assistant Referee 1: Tiziana Trasciatti ITA Assistant Referee 2: Vanessa Gomes POR Fourth Official: Casey Reibelt AUS Reserve Assistant Referee: Daiana Fernandez URU
USA 1 - 1 NED at HT US had 3 good chances to score more goals while NED equaliser came from solitary effort (perhaps even scored from offside)
Both teams are playing way too narrow. They are making it easy to defend each other. Space is the enemy of defense and the friend of the defense and both teams do not seem to want to actually maintain space on attack and that make defense easy. The lack of good soccer spacing for their offense and that make it very crowded where the ball is.
the final ends and PRK is champion. Although the final was only 1-0 it never really looked like Japan had much of a chance. PRK controlled the match and only a lack of finishing kept the score down. With really good finishing the match could have been 4 or 5 to 0 and with just average finishing PRK should have had 3 or so. It is not really a negative but PRK showed just how valuable time together can be. They were not better players but they were a better team, a LOT better. Also their coach is ruthless. He would sub anyone that did not play at the standards he expected. In the second half he subbed for a forward he felt was not performing and then he subbed out the sub when she disappointed. I don't like that style of coaching but, if the players will take it, it can be very effective as long as you have players that know how to play in spite of a level of fear. I also have to say I expected Japan to do better. They seemed almost afraid of attacking every time they had a near breakaway. they tried to make a "safe" pass instead of pressing the attack. I wonder if they had received some bad/poor instructions before the match.
Found it disappointing to, but North-Koreans were covering every space so well and with such speed that often the backpass remained the only option not to lose possession. Japan players should have moved more, better and faster to free themselves for the pass or to press North-Korean possession, but it's easier said than done. In the final part of the game, they were so tired from useless running, that the quality of their passing game was way worse and the game became quite hectic.