NEWS

The Nadeshiko Japan women’s team won the Bicentenario Women’s Cup friendly tournament after beating Argentina 3-0 in their fourth and final game on Saturday in Chile.

Manami Nakano, Kozue Ando and Mami Yamaguchi scored for Japan, who completed the round-robin competition with a 3-1-0 win-draw-loss record for a total of 10 points. They were followed by Denmark with seven points, Colombia and Chile (both 3) and Argentina (2).
The Nadeshiko started creating chances after the 10-minute mark with efforts from Shinobu Ohno and Yamaguchi, but both attempts were saved by the Argentina goalkeeper.
The opener came in the 25th minute when Nakano fired into the right corner of the net.
Japan came close again in the 37th minute when Nakano connected with a Kozue Ando cross, and Ando had a chance from the rebound.
Shortly before the break, the Nadeshiko found the target again when Ando headed in an Aya Miyama cross.
The Japanese side went on the attack and came close to making it 3-0 in the 53rd minute with an attempt from Ohno.
In the 74th minute, Yamaguchi connected with a feed from substitute Megumi Takase and fired in her team’s third goal.
Nadeshiko Japan coach Norio Sasaki commented: “We played as we wanted in the first half, but I told my players not to give our opponents a chance to hit from mid or long range. When the course of the game started to turn in the second half, our players coped with the situation and won the initiative back.”
“During this tournament, our players responded well to each situation; I only gave them guidelines on how to play. So, I am happy about that.”
Sasaki added: “I hope we can improve on what we've done here in our next tournament, the East Asian championship, as that will be our last official competition in the run-up to the Asian Cup in May.”