After the United States and seven European teams reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup four years ago, it was widely assumed that soccer’s global power base would remain as stationary as a weather front in those regions four years later.
But it was a tournament of surprises, changed expectations and cracks in the foundation of women’s soccer tradition. The United States and Germany, which ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, with six world championships between them, were sent home early and shocked.
Five European teams remain, but Japan may be the most formidable opponent, suddenly resurgent as a sinking power and the only team left standing to win the World Cup.
With unity of movement, an almost impenetrable defense and tactical flexibility, Nadeshiko, as the team is known, has delivered 14 goals and scored just one in four matches before Friday’s meeting with Sweden in the quarterfinals in Auckland, New Zealand. Hinata Miyazawa has been a revelation in midfield, scoring five goals this World Cup — the most of any player — after scoring just four times in 22 previous appearances.
Having wilted after winning the 2011 World Cup in a penalty kick shootout against the United States, Japan is blossoming again with versatility to play the possession style of short passes known as tiki-taka or to launch scorching counterattacks . After the 4-0 loss to Japan in group play, Spain Coach Jorge Vilda said his team’s defeat was psychological and numerical. “Of course, mentally,” said Vilda, “it did some damage.”
After Japan defeated Norway by 3-1 in the round of 16, Caroline Graham Hansen, the Norwegian star who plays for Champions League winner Barcelona, said that Japan showed why it could be the best team in the tournament.
“They are very disciplined and very structured in the way they play offense and defense,” Hansen said.
Friday’s quarterfinal could play out as an engaging challenge of physicality versus technique. Sweden has scored four of its nine goals on corner kicks, a total that almost grew last Sunday when it packed the six-yard box against the United States like a crowded elevator.
But the Swedes couldn’t muster a goal through 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime before the Americans succumbed, finally and microscopically, on penalty kicks. Only goalkeeper Zecira Musovic’s brilliant anticipation and reaction kept the result from being overturned. Several Swedish players appeared close to tiring, especially left back Jonna Andersson, who was repeatedly beaten on the flank by the pace of Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams.
Until Friday’s kickoff it will be clear whether Andersson and his teammates have had enough time to recover to face a relentless Japanese team that has been more intense in each of its matches than the United States in either in its games.
“They don’t play as direct as the US, so it will be a different kind of game,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson said. “It’s more about belonging.”
Sweden could set its defense low, trying to absorb and blunt Japan’s attack; Its purpose, says Gerhardsson, is usually to try to win the ball back after its opponent has made four or five passes.
“In Japan, maybe 10 to 15 passes, but we still want to win the ball,” he said. “And, then, the transition will be important.”
Japan enters the World Cup ranked 11th by FIFA, a sign of how far its fortunes have fallen since winning the World Cup and returning to the final in 2015. Its rousing triumph in 2011 came four months after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country’s northeastern coast, killing more than 15,000 people and displacing thousands more.
Even with the loss that year, American forward Megan Rapinoe said recently, she considered Japan’s victory “one of the greatest stories in all of sports.”
But that success began to crumble. When the Japanese team traveled to the 2012 London Olympics, it had to fly as a coach, while its men’s team, mostly under-23 players, flew in business class on the same jet. The women won the silver medal, while the men finished fourth.
In the 2015 World Cup final, Japan was defeated, 5-2, by the United States, largely due to the predatory prowess of Carli Lloyd, who scored three goals in the first 16 minutes, including a shot launched from midfield. When Japan failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics the following summer, a change began, with the aim of overhauling the senior team but also to increase the participation of female soccer coaches, referees and players, to create a larger talent pool from which to draw. The stated goal is to register 300,000 female players – up from 50,500 at the time – by 2030.
Japan also hired the first female coach for the women’s national team: Asako Takakura, who became a pioneering player. In an interview with The New York Times a few months before the 2019 World Cup, he predicted that Japan would win the tournament. He wants his players to express their individualism, he said, instead of valuing only the collectivity of the group, which has been a tradition on some past teams.
Instead of lifting the trophy, however, Japan scored just three goals in four matches and exited quickly and modestly. Two years later, Japan’s gold medal dream at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics ended when Sweden eliminated it in the quarterfinals. Takakura was replaced by Futoshi Ikeda, who coached Japan to the 2018 under-20 Women’s World Cup title.
At the start of the current World Cup, many remained skeptical about Japan’s chances, including Takakura, who told Agence France-Presse that Japan was “left behind by the sudden moves the rest of the world is making”. in terms of resources poured into women’s soccer. Until 2021, for example, Japan’s women’s league became fully professional.
Shinobu Ohno, who was a member of the 2011 championship team, told the French news agency that Japan’s national team has become sclerotic, unable to adapt to teams that are physically stronger and tactically better. But pretournament skepticism has been replaced by ascendant optimism.
Ikeda has built a team built on agility, mobility, unity and a liberating joy. Nine of Japan’s 23 players are attached to clubs in the top women’s leagues in the United States, England, Italy and Sweden, and that has helped build the confidence, fearlessness and tactical versatility seen at the World Cup.
“We’re ready to fight anyone,” said Saki Kumagai, Japan’s captain and the only player left on the roster from the 2011 World Cup.
