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REVIEW: AFC WOMEN’S ASIAN CUP
Azusa Iwashimizu’s
goal ended 37 years of
continental drought as
Japan won their first-ever
AFC Women’s Asian Cup
title by dethroning defending
champions Australia with a
1-0 victory in May’s final in
Ho Chi Minh City.
After netting a late extra-time winner in
the semi-final against eight-time champions
China, defender Iwashimizu’s was on
the scoresheet after 28 minutes of the
tournament’s showpiece with her second vital
contribution in consecutive games.
Rising highest to meet a cross from Rumi
Utsugi at the back-post, Iwashimizu forced
home a header past Australia goalkeeper
Lydia Williams that would ultimately conclude
an undefeated campaign in Vietnam for Norio
Sasaki’s all-conquering side, who added the
continental championship to the 2011 FIFA
Women’s World Cup.
“I thought to win the AFC Women’s Asian
Cup was one of my biggest projects, so the
players did a great job. We came here to
Japan Finally Land
Asian Cup Crown
Vietnam with one aim: to win the tournament
and end Japan’s jinx. We’ve done that, so it’s
mission accomplished,” said FIFA Women’s
World Cup-winning coach Sasaki.
“For this Asian Cup campaign I couldn’t
bring some players because of conflicts with
their club schedules, but the young players
who played instead of them have shown
me they have good potential and have
experienced good lessons for the future.
“The task for the next 12 months will be to
combine these new youngsters with our more
experienced players into one unit so we can
have a successful World Cup next year.”
The competition finale was Japan’s second
meeting with Australia after they shared a 2-2
draw in their tournament opener before the
Nadeshiko secured comfortable wins over
hosts Vietnam and Jordan to take top spot in
Group A ahead of the Matildas by virtue of a
superior goal difference.
Then came Iwashimizu’s dramatic
intervention in the final seconds of extra-time
against China as Japan secured a 2-1 win
and booked their meeting with Alen Stajcic’s
Australia side who edged out free-scoring
Korea Republic 2-1 in their semi-final.
“Japan showed us why they are one of
the top two teams in the world. They kept
the ball well, defended well when they had
to and took their chances well. They have
outstanding players and are a fantastic team,”
said Australia coach Stajcic following the
final.
“My players fought to the death and
showed tremendous effort but we need to
improve just that little bit further in technique
and execution if we want to be challenging
the big teams like Japan on a regular basis.”
China had earlier edged out Korea in the
third place play-off when a last-minute goal from
forward Yang Li secured a 2-1 victory.
“After playing 125 minutes against Japan in
the semi-final only to lose in the last second, it
was very special to win this match,” said China
coach Hao Wei.
“The players did very well in both the mental
and physical aspect of this match. Winning
this match and
being third will
help to bring
promotion to
women’s football
in China.”
With the
competition
doubling up as
a qualifier for
the 2015 FIFA
Women’s World
Cup all four
semi-finalists
automatically
received a ticket
for the global tournament in Canada next year.
And with an additional place at next year’s
FIFA Women’s World Cup available for the team
finishing in fifth-place, Kanjana Sung-Ngoen
scored twice as Thailand secured a pulsating
2-1 victory over hosts Vietnam to advance to
the international showpiece for the first time in
their history, despite a late long range strike from
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung.
“This victory and thereby qualifying for the
World Cup is a very important milestone in our
development,” said Thailand coach Nuengrutai
Srathongvian.
“This is the first time we’ve ever qualified for a
global event like this, so I can say this is a first real
step for woman’s football in Thailand.”
Japan captain Aya Miyama was named the MVP
of the tournament, while
Korea’s powerful striker
Park Eun-sun netted
six goals in five games
to claim the top goal
scorer honour.
Park finished at the
top of the scoring charts
alongside China’s Yang,
but the Korean striker
claimed the award
having contributed one
more assist.
“Of course I’m sad
that the team didn’t
finish as high as
possible, so while this award is good, it’s bitter
sweet as we didn’t finish where we wanted,” said
Park.
“I hadn’t been called up to the national team for
a while and it took me some time to get used to
all the systems again. The tournament went well,
though, I scored lots of goals and bonded with the
team.”
Group A
P W D L F A +/- Pts
Japan 3 2 1 0 13 2 11 7
Australia 3 2 1 0 7 3 4 7
Vietnam 3 1 0 2 3 7 -4 3
Jordan 3 0 0 3 2 13 -11 0
14/05/14
Vietnam 3 (Nguyen Thi Muon 18, Le Thu Thanh Huong
36, 84) Jordan 1 (Maysa Jbarah 34)
Australia 2 (Caitlin Foord 21, Lisa De Vanna 64)
Japan 2 (Claire Polkinghorne 71 OG, Yuki Ogimi 84)
16/05/14
Japan 4 (Nahomi Kawasumi 44, 87, Nanase Kiryu 65,
Yuki Ogimi 69) Vietnam 0
Jordan 1 (Stephanie Al Naber 71) Australia 3 (Kathryn
Gill 36, 51, Katrina Gorry 61)
18/05/14
Vietnam 0 Australia 2 (Le Thi Thuong 42 OG, Katrina
Gorry 90)
Japan 7 (Chinatsu Kira 25, 90+3, Emi Nakajima 45+1,
75, Mizuho Sakaguchi 49, 81, Enshirah Al Hyasat 69
OG) Jordan 0
Group B
P W D L F A +/- Pts
Korea Republic 3 2 1 0 16 0 16 7
China 3 2 1 0 10 0 10 7
Thailand 3 1 0 2 2 12 -10 3
Myanmar 3 0 0 3 1 17 -16 0
15/05/14
Korea Republic 12 (Ji So-yun 4, Park Eun-sun 17,
43, Park Hee-young 33, Jeon Ga-eul 36, 40, 63, Cho
So-hyun 45+3, 61, 82, Kwon Hah-nul 58, Yeo Min-ji
76) Myanmar 0
China 7 (Li Dongna 6, Li Ying 8, Yang Li 16, 45+1,
64, 90+1, Xu Yanlu 75) Thailand 0
17/05/14
Myanmar 0 China 3 (Ren Guixin 10, Ma Xiaoxu
60, Yang Li 87)
Thailand 0 Korea Republic 4 (Ji So-yun 11, Park
Eun-sun 12, 47, 84)
19/05/14
Korea Republic 0 China 0
Thailand 2 (Kanjana Sung-Ngoen 27, Sritala Duangnapa
59) Myanmar 1 (Yee Yee Oo 45+1)
Fifth Place Play-Off
21/05/14
Vietnam 1 (Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung 86) Thailand 2
(Kanjana Sung-Ngoen 48, 65)
Semi-Finals
22/05/14
Japan 2 (Homare Sawa 51, Azusa Iwashimizu 120+2)
China 1 (Li Dongna 80) AET
Korea Republic 1 (Park Eun-sun 53) Australia 2
(Katrina Gorry 47, Elise Kellond-Knight 77)
Third Place Play-Off
25/05/14
China 2 (Park Eun-sun 3 OG, Yang Li 90+3) Korea
Republic 1 (Yoo Young-ah 80)
Final
25/05/14
Japan 1 (Azusa Iwashimizu 28) Australia 0
AFC QUARTERLY 71