By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Japan have fallen on harder times since the golden age when they won the 2011 Women’s World Cup and reached the final four years later but the Nadeshiko remain Asia’s best hope of success in Australia and New Zealand.
They will have to do it without Mana Iwabuchi, however, after the 30-year-old playmaker was left out of Futoshi Ikeda’s squad for the tournament, where Japan will play Spain, Costa Rica and Zambia in the opening round.
That leaves skipper Saki Kumagai as the only survivor of the 2011 triumph in Germany, where the defensive midfielder converted the winning penalty in the shootout against the United States that decided the title.
That team captured the hearts of a nation still coming to terms with the tragedy of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along the country’s northeast coast earlier the same year.
The ambition to inspire a nation remains, even if FIFA’s hardline stance on the price of broadcasting rights means their games might not be available on terrestrial TV in Japan.
“We want to inspire people who watch the game, make them feel how wonderful women’s soccer is and let them enjoy the sport,” Ikeda told Reuters.
“We want to compete in each game with full energy and deliver the excitement when we win.”
While remaining a continental power with back-to-back Asian Cup wins in 2014 and 2018, Japan lost the 2012 Olympic final and 2015 World Cup final to the Americans and in 2021 were unable to make it past the quarter-finals at their own Tokyo Olympics.
Matching up physically with other teams can also be a challenge – the average height for women in Japan is 1.58m compared to 1.63m in the United States – but the Nadeshiko made up for their lack of stature with a dazzling passing game.
That remains, but defences have improved in women’s football and other teams have developed their own slick passing games, most notably the Spanish, who Japan meet in their final Group C match.
While their route through the knockout stages is likely to be determined by that July 31 clash in Wellington, Ikeda is also concerned that they avoid upsets in their first two matches.
“There are fast players on Zambia’s frontline and they also have players who play in clubs outside of the country,” he said.
“Costa Rica has accumulated a lot of experience and tried out many different things tactically. We will see how they play in their first game and prepare accordingly.”
A 3-0 win over Olympic champions Canada at the SheBelieves Cup in February showed Japan can still beat the best on their day and made up to some degree for earlier narrow losses to Brazil and the United States.
“We will absolutely aim for the top and fight for the trophy but it’s a big challenge and there are also some obstacles that we really need to overcome,” said Ikeda.
“Rather than set a goal (for the tournament), our target is to win each game in front of us.”
(Additional reporting by Irene Wang; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
