5IVE: World Cup, Day 7
Zambia, Costa Rica and Republic of Ireland are heading home. Canada get things back on track, while Japan and Spain's systems shine again...
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Japan's system looks a tricky one to stop
Japan continued to look ominous and backed up their eye-catching opening game performance against Zambia with a similarly comfortable win against Costa Rica, albeit with less clinical edge.
While the score was only 2-0 in the end after two quickfire goals in the first half, there were several impressive aspects to this Japan performance as they booked their spot in the second round.
Firstly, the continued intriguing attacking partnership between Mina Tanaka and Aoba Fujino, as again Fujino often drifted right and Tanaka would drop deep, unlocking space for midfielders to run beyond her.
The second was how well drilled this team is. Futoshi Ikeda made four changes, largely in the middle of the park as Honoka Hayashi and Hikaru Naomoto came in, with Hina Sugita replacing Jun Endo at wing-back, yet the movement and intricacies of the Japan system remained almost identical to the Zambia game.
Sugita slotted in seemlessly for Endo, while Naomoto's presence in the place of Miyazawa brought similar results as the midfielder got forward from the left to fire home the opening goal.
Naomoto was often doubling up with Sugita, as did Fujino with Risa Shimizu down the right, allowing Yui Hasegawa the space to dictate from the middle of the park.
The way Japan is playing is one of the most unique at the tournament, but what will be worrying for the opposition is how well drilled they look at implementing it. They will face tougher tests than Zambia and Costa Rica, with Spain next up one of the ultimate tests, but these two games have also given them the perfect opportunity to rubber stamp how they want to play due to their domination of the ball.
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Spain ticking along nicely
A late flurry of goals from Spain saw them book both their own and Japan's places in the second round, eliminating Zambia and Costa Rica who become the first nations to be heading out of the tournament less than a week after the action got under way.
Jorge Vilda made two changes as Alexia Putellas and Mariona Caldentey came into the starting eleven, but he made several more at half-time and beyond as La Roja raced into an early 2-0 lead thanks to a stunner from the impressive once again Teresa Abelleira, before Jenni Hermoso headed home a precise Alexia cross.
Spain were once again impressive early on, but once again showed frailties at the back as Barbra Banda in particular saw a lot more of the ball than she did against Japan, but they couldn't breach the Spanish defence during the 90 minutes.
Spain though played in a very similar way to how they did against Costa Rica, pushing as many players forward as possible to pile the pressure on the Zambian defence. Aitana Bonmatí, Alexia and Abelleira were again all playing high, as were Ona Batlle and Olga Carmona, again in a way which may need some adaption against a stronger side, and how they play against Japan will be interesting.
Aside from her stunning goal, Abelleira was again impressive holding down the fort and starting attacks for bothers, while Spain's attack continued to show diversity, with Salma Paralluelo and Mariona Caldentey often using their movement to good effect, before last season's top Liga F scorer, Alba Redondo, added two herself after coming off the bench at half-time.
A late fifth looked inconsiquential, but it moved Spain above Japan by a goal, meaning just a point would be enough for Vilda's side to secure top spot when the sides meet next week.
Alexia returns with a bang
One of just two changes made by Vilda for the Zambia game was the return of double Ballon d'Or winner Alexia, and it really didn't take long for the Barcelona superstar to make an impact.
Putellas was constantly getting on the ball, drifting in and out of the left side of midfield. Driving forward, but dropping back into her own to constantly get on the ball, and it was no surprise with her on the pitch a lot of what Spain did went down the left, with Bonmati and Batlle having a quiet first half in particular as a result.
Alexia was involved in both of Spain's quickfire openers. There was some neat interplay with Mariona and Hermoso to get Spain out of a tight spot in the corner and tee up Teresa Abelleira's stunning opener, before a clever run into the box and pinpoint cross saw her get the assist for Hermoso's second minutes later.
The midfielder was withdrawn at half-time as she continues to build towards full fitness after recovering from her ACL injury which saw her miss almost the whole of last seaso, and while as above there will be tougher tests ahead of Spain, Alexia looked like she'd never been away.
Bev Priestman got bold half-time changes spot on
Canada needed a win, any win, to get things back on track after their opening round draw with Nigeria. It didn't look likely for a while as they struggled to deal with Republic of Ireland's intensity, not helped by conceding an early goal to Katie McCabe's whipped corner.
Bev Priestman shuffled the pack and dropped Christine Sinclair out of the starting eleven, the first time the top international goalscorer hasn't started a World Cup game in her sixth tournament. The changes didn't really appear to have the desired effect and Canada never got out of the blocks, and defensively in particular struggled with Ireland's intensity up top. Kadeisha Buchanan especially, who was one of three players hooked at the break.
Two big questions were asked of Canada towards the break. Could a team which struggles to score find the net twice, and what would Priestman's decisions be to sort out a poor first half?
They got a stroke of luck right on half-time to level things up when Megan Connolly sliced an admittedly excellent Ashley Lawrence cross into her own net, and the second was answered by three excellent substitutions from Priestman. Sinclair entered in place of Eveleyne Viens, Sophie Schmidt for Julia Grosso and Shelina Zadorsky for Buchanan.
Sinclair's experience calmed things down, but the Portland Thorns forward would have been disappointed to not find the net, while Schmidt was excellent in the midfield, skipping forward to set up Adriana Leon's winner. Zadorsky too it has to be said was solid at the back, defying Ireland's late pressure and putting in a much more composed performance than Buchanan managed.
It's given Canada a great chance of qualification after things looked bleak, but they still have the co-hosts to face and Nigeria are not out of the reckoning just yet.
Republic of Ireland can take heart despite early exit
So, Republic of Ireland is the third nation to head home on a brutal Wednesday which also saw Zambia and Costa Rica eliminated from Group C.
All three nations were given tough hands, with the latter duo tasked with facing Spain and Japan, while Vera Pauw's side have had to face co-hosts and in-form Australia as well as experienced Olympic champions Canada.
When McCabe's corner flew straight in the top corner after just four minutes, the Irish dared to dream. They could have built on it too, with Carusa up top causing all sorts of issues and Courtney Brosnan for a period of time untroubled at the other end.
Ireland can take a lot of heart from two narrow defeats to two top 10 ranked sides. While Zambia and Costa Rica have conceded goals galore, both of Ireland's games were settled by a single goal.
They were unfortunate to see Connolly's sliced clearance end up in the back of the net on the brink of half-time, but they also didn't do enough to deal with the changes Canada made at half-time.
They also need to find a clinical edge. They got into some good positions, particularly through McCabe down the left, but a lot of their efforts on goal came from outside the box.
That was the worry for Pauw's side coming into the tournament. They have a solid base to build on in defence and midfield, but oh what they would love to discover one star striker with Irish heritage somewhere in the world.
But this should be a foundation for them to build on, not the end of the story. There's no reason we shouldn't see the Republic at many major tournaments to come.