World Cup, Day 7 Analysis
Zambia, Costa Rica and Republic of Ireland are heading home. Canada get things back on track, while Japan and Spain's systems shine again...
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.
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