By Chris Wright
The quarter-finals of the Women’s World Cup have shaped up nicely, with the last eight offering up some enticing grudge clashes between China and the USA, Germany and France, and England’s date of destiny with the hosts, Canada.
Japan also booked themselves a quarters berth against Australia with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the final Round of 16 tie last night.
Already 1-0 after 10 minutes, it took Japan until the 79th minute to double their advantage though the goal was well worth the wait – a dynamic one-touch team move that spliced through the Dutch defence before Mizuho Sakaguchi steered home a delicious left-foot curler beyond Loes Geurts’ reach…
However, it wasn’t all well-timed dummies and excellent finishes for Japan, who also went on to concede the most laughable goal of the tournament in injury time when somehow Kirsten van de Ven’s weakling of a header bumbled through the ‘grasp’ of Ayumi Kaihori as she appeared to suffer from a temporary bout of paralysis totalis on the goal-line…
CLANG.