Nice free-kick and goal. I feel the ref got conned for the free, but as a Little Nadeshiko fan I will take it. South Korea are playing better football though.
I am glad Little Nadeshiko won, but they were lucky. I feel sorry for South Korea given that either Australia or Vietnam will go through to the semi-finals. Little Nadeshiko looked like they could not handle the pressure applied by South Korea. Maybe it was due to having such an easy group and this is nice wake-up call, but they will have to be much better if they want to beat North Korea. Also I think the coach has to take some of the blame for this performance. Anyway, I am glad they got through.
This is South Korea this team. It is almost the same as the game vs North Korea. They are very good, but they miss the chance in the final third. In fact, it's true that Little Nadeshiko was overwhelmed, but the vicory always comes to the team which has strong goal getters.
The result of my extra game (2): lukephan 50 1. 3:0 20 2. Tanaka 3. Tanaka, Ikeda, Higuchi 20, Sumiya, Kurita 4. Tanaka 5. none 10 6. 27' Elstre 30 1, Japan 3-1 South Korea 2, Sumiya 3, Tanaka, Sumiya, Kurita, Higuchi 20, Hanashiro 4, Kurita 5, Nobody 10 6, 17th minute une 150 1 4-0 20 2 Higuchi Rara 100 3 Higuchi 20, Hanashiro, Sumiya, Tamamura, Ikeda 4 Higuchi 5 nobody 10 6 23 Lohmann 80 1 2:0 20 2 Hanashiro 3 Hanashiro, Kurita, Higuchi 20, Ikeda, Ito 4 Nobody 30 5 Nobody 10 6 37 bliss 140 1 Japan 5-0 Soth Korea 20 2 Rara Higuchi 100 3 Rara Higuchi 20, Runa Sumiya, Mei Hanashiro, Yuzuha Ikeda, Anri Ito 4 Asuka Tanaka 5 Rara Higuchi 6 15'
I think Nadeshiko were clearly dominant in the first half. Basically 70% of the play was entirely on South Korea's half. The second period was poor indeed.
Current ranking of my extra game (2): 1 une 390 2 lukephan 290 3 bliss 260 4 Lohmann 160 5 Elstree 140
--------------------------------------- Izumo 1,856 Viama 1,251 Fujizakura 1,147 Renofa 782 Orca 605 --------------------------------------- KLSL D1 Tsukuba 4-2 FC Jumonji KLSL D2 Nittaidai Satellite 6-0 Machida Zelvia Mito Ciruela 0-0 Jumonji Gakuen Uni Hokkaido Women's Soccer League Hokkaido Bunkyo Uni Affiliated HS 1-1 Lilas Consadole Hokkaido Women's Soccer Challenge League ASC Hokkaido 20-0 Obihiro Oya HS Tohoku Women's Soccer League D2 Meio HS 2-1 Zebra Ladies Hokushinetsu Women's Soccer League Hokuriku Uni Fiorile 5-2 FC Echigo Tsumari
As South Korea was defensive in the first half like India, Little Nadeshiko was unable to find the solution to score the goal. But in the second half, South Korea went more aggresive, and especially #23 has a special quality to break our defence. In fact I expected our defeat at the PK call. And one more thing, although I thought this Little Nadeshiko was stronger in duel than the previous teams, it may not be true. The final against maybe North Korea would clarifie the real figure of this Little Nadeshiko.
I watched a little of the match, the camera operator apparently got an impossible job actually: Looks like they are standing within a window frame on a second floor container standing right at the field (as seen also on the other side in the back) and are usually at pains not showing said window frame (above screenshot was one of the few slip ups for a split second). I don't understand why they weren't able to put a camera on the opposite side above that smaller tent. Telescopic camera cranes, for which there should have been space behind the tent, are not rocket science. I guess it just was a very cheap event, using environments ill suited for video recording.
Cumulative rankings, updated with games (1), (2), (3) and extra(2): 1 Unepommekun 2785 2 Lohmann 2365 3 Blissett 2225 4 Miora 2145 5 Elstree 1160 6 Lukephan 1145 7 Quango 880 8 Frideswide 100 I had some miserable choices but I was saved by the U-17 match, phew . Very close competition at 5th/6th place between @Elstree and @lukephan.
I finally just had the time to watch the highlights of the match, and I have to say that, if these are the best actions they could come up with, they look more like... lowlights! Hadn't there been a saved PK? If that's true, how is it possibile that it didn't deserve being shown in the video? Or did I misread your comments, guys? Anyway, happy that Japan ended up advancing, but they didn't look brilliant at all.
Womens Football 2026 Totally off topic... but I never thought I live to see dads and girls playing footie in the street out of my kitchen window (I think perhaps Man City Women have got something to do with it) Heartwarming
The WE League has selected 35 players for the 2025/26 WE League Outstanding Player Awards based on votes from the managers and players of the 12 clubs. The winners of the Most Valuable Player Award and Best Eleven will be chosen from among the Outstanding Player Award recipients and presented with awards at the "2025/26 WE League Awards" to be held on Tuesday, May 26th. https://weleague.jp/news/1958/ GK Sakiko Ikeda (Urawa Reds) Shiori Fukuda (RB Omiya Ardija) Akane Okuma (INAC Kobe Leonessa) DF Hana Takahashi (Urawa Reds) Ruka Norimatsu (RB Omiya Ardija) Shino Matsuda (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Tomoko Muramatsu (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Mizuki Sonoda (Albirex Niigata) Mitsuki Ota (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Shiori Miyake (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Chisato Ichise (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina) MF Miki Ito (Urawa Reds) Kotono Sakakibara (Urawa Reds) Ririka Tanno (Urawa Reds) Oto Kanno (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Nanami Kitamura (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Yuzuho Shiokoshi (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Miyuka Momono (Cerezo Osaka) Haruna Aikawa (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Yui Narumiya (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Fukina Mizuno (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Yoshino Nakashima (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina) Funa Yanase (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina) FW Mei Shimada (Urawa Reds) Yuma Saito (RB Omiya Ardija) Hanon Nishio (RB Omiya Ardija) Megu Hamada (RB Omiya Ardija) Momoka Hiwatari (NTV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) Chinari Sasai (Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara) Natsumi Tago (Cerezo Osaka) Asaki Wada (Cerezo Osaka) Mao Kubota (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Riko Yoshida (INAC Kobe Leonessa) Mami Ueno (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina) Song-ah Lee (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina) MVP : If I were to choose a player, I would pick the one who imo was the most regular the whole season and it would be Narumiya. Yoshida may finish as the top goal scorer, but she was like a ghost for almost 2 months. Only one defender under 25 years old who have just debuted in the league : Ota. But she doesn't give yet the same vibe as Ishikawa or Takeshige in their times though. Aikawa in the list eventhough she is injured since November and no Shinjo? I guess most of the players selected could be called for the Asian games in September except the U20 and those who will be transfer abroad in summer.
Aikawa was outstanding before the injury. And, I'm really scared with visualizing lukephan's angry face about Shinjo. Seriously, of course she showed her potential, but it's hard to say that she enough contributed Beleza's victory. I think she needs not only an instant sparkle but continuous full play in a game like Yui's one.
First thing I checked was Miharu's name. I'm still wondering what was that U20WWC injury all about and how it influenced her game. Was it even real or they didn't want to send her?