Japan did what no one thought they could do; make it to the simi finals. They didn’t listen to the voice and analyst. Once they did it. The same people said great job but that is the end of them. Japan again ignored them and fought on. They made it to the finals not as on the shoulders of one super star. They did it as a team. That team today was a clear example of why you should never count out the underdog.
Japan defeated the United States in a penalty kick shootout to win. They took out a US team that had been looked at as the clear front runner for the Women’s World Cup. Today that was not meant to be in Frankfurt, Germany. The US missed three of four penalty kicks; Japan on the other hand-made three of four. USA’s Shannon Boxx and Tobin Heath were both denied by Japan’s goalie Ayumi Kaihori. Saki Kumagai scored on Japan’s fourth and that ended the game for them. USA played the second half and overtime without star player Lauren Cheney. She had suffered an ankle injury.
That howerver was not the reason they lost. The first 30 minutes the US team had 12 shots at the goal and connected with 0. That would come back to bite them in the end. This game did not have to go to a shoot out. US coach PIa Sundhage said it best “We made a couple of mistakes, we let them in the game. I still think we did pretty good out there,” Japan’s Azusa Iwashimizu was given a red card in the 119th minute but the US was unable to convert the ensuing free kick.
- Morgan put the US up 1-0
- Aya Miyama tied it 1-1
- Wambach put the US up 2-1
- Homare Sawa tied the score for Japan at 2-2
Than the shoot out happen like this:
- USA: Shannon Boxx denied Japan’s goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori
- Japan: Aya Miyama scored for Japan
- USA: Carli Lloyd blasted her shot high over the crossbar
- Japan: Yuki Nagasoto’s denied by Solo
- USA: Tobin Heath denied Japan’s goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori
- Japan: Mizuho Sakaguchi scored for Japan
- USA: Wambach scored to keep the U.S. alive
- Japan: Saki Kumagai scored for Japan and made Japan world champion.