Japan take ninth spot in Santiago

Japan defeated China 2-0 to finish in ninth spot in the Women’s Junior World Cup

4 Dec 2016
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Santiago (4 Dec, 2016): Japan defeated China 2-0 to finish in ninth spot in the Women’s Junior World Cup at Club Deportivo Manquehue in the Chilean capital city of Santiago on Saturday.

The hosts, however, finished 11th following a 3-1 victory over Korea in penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time whilst New Zealand beat South Africa 8-2 to return home in 13th spot and France triumphed 3-1 over Zimbabwe in the playoff for 15-16th positions.

Japan got off to the best of starts against Asian rivals China as Maho Segawa opened the scoring after five minutes. The Japanese were on top for most of the first half and doubled their lead through Kanon Mori in the 21st minute after a scramble in the China D.

China tried their best to get back into the match but Japan’s structure and attacking flair did not falter throughout.
Japan captain Yu Asai said: “We stayed together and got through what was a hard match. It makes it extra special to beat a team from Asia, but also because China is a very good team. So it’s good to play well, stick it out and win against some quality opposition.”

Hosts Chile gave hundreds of home fans reasons to celebrate in the last match of the day. And that they did by opening scoring after only eight minutes through captain Denise Krimerman. It wasn’t long though before Korea drew level through a penalty corner thanks to Soyun Moon. After the half-time break Korea found the back of the net after five minutes as Seoyeong Kim got on the end of a long ball into the D to put the Asian team ahead.

With just under 10 minutes left to play Chile’s Sofia Machado Paonessa sneaked the ball under Korean goalkeeper Eunhee Lim to level the score once again.

Neither team could find a way through so the match went to a shootout and it was there that the Chilean captain gave the fairytale ending as she scored the winning goal as they won 3-1.

New Zealand and South Africa played out this highly entertaining game, although the African champions will be disappointed to have allowed the Kiwis to score so many goals in their final match at this event.

New Zealand’s Deanna Ritchie scored two goals from penalty corners, whilst Megan Hull (PC), Tarryn Davey, Kayla Reed, Emily Wium, Alia Jaques (PC) and Catherine Tinning all got on the scoresheet. South Africa’s two goals game from Tarryn Glasby (penalty corner) and Danielle Cairns.

New Zealand captain Tessa Jopp, said: “It was a great way to end the tournament – finish on a high. Everyone played a really good game, for both teams, so it was good to get the win. Today we gave the easy ball, flowed with our passes and created spaces which made passing a lot easier for ourselves.”

Zimbabwe left their best performance for last as they made France work for victory as both teams battled to avoid finishing bottom of the pack.

France went ahead through Victorine Vankemmel in the first of her two goals after only 12 minutes. Zimbabwe did not let that dampen their spirits however and they stunned the French as Tyla Groenewald converted a scrappy penalty corner.

With the scores tied 1-1 at half-time France came out fighting in the second half. Vankemmel scored her second of the match through a penalty corner in the 58th minute before Noa Roque made sure of their victory in the 61st minute through another penalty corner.

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JPN v CHN
JPN v CHN
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JPN v CHN
JPN v CHN
FFU PRESS AGENCY COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK
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