Japan beat hosts Australia 1-0 to claim their third Women’s Asian Cup title in front of a tournament record crowd of 74,397 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
The end-to-end encounter between sides packed full of Women’s Super League talent was settled by a moment of superb individual quality from Tottenham loanee Maika Hamano, who arrowed a strike from the edge of the box into the bottom corner on 17 minutes.
While Australia had several gilt-edged chances they were unable to avoid a third successive Asian Cup final defeat by Japan, having fallen to the same opponent in the 2014 and 2018 finals.
Arsenal winger Caitlin Foord spurned a trio of first-half opportunities for the tournament hosts, the best resulting from a stray pass from Japan and Manchester City keeper Ayaka Yamashita on the edge of the box, but she fired wide from an angle.
As half-time approached, Tottenham full-back Toko Koga almost doubled the lead for Japan, arriving at the perfect time to meet Hinata Miyazawa’s back-post delivery with a powerful drive, only for Mackenzie Arnold to parry away.
The encounter continued at a frenetic pace after the break, with the two teams exchanging blows as they searched for the game’s second goal.
With the clock ticking down, Australia upped the tempo, and Hayley Raso got on the end of a brilliant run and cross from Foord, only to be left punching the turf in frustration after being denied by a superb last-ditch intervention from Rion Kitigawa.
Then, as the clock struck 85 minutes, the ball broke kindly for substitute Emily van Egmond of Leicester, but she was unable to find a way past a wall of blue Japan shirts as they clung on to victory.
Defeat means that the Matildas’ long wait for success in the competition goes on, with their only success coming back in 2010.
BBC
