England Women will hold the interest of
the nation's football fans this evening/night/early morning, as they
kick off around half midnight against Japan Women in the semi-final
of the FIFA World Cup. The USA and Germany play out the other
semi-final.
Japan's football, both male and female
has come a long way quickly and it is the women whose beginning were
in 1970 when some regional leagues were started and after 10 years
there was an All Japan Championships leading to the country's first
international against Hong Kong in 1981, with players chosen as
representatives of the All Japan League.
An “All Japan Team” emerged as late
as 1986 under the management of Ryohei Susuki, who got things going,
so to speak.
The Japan's Women's League developed in
1986 known as the “L” League and in 1991 they joined the FIFI
World Cup, losing most of their games. In 2000 the team failed to
qualify for the Olympics and Women's football in Japan lost its
impetus.
But under Eiji Ueda, a new manager, the
team revived and Women's football regained its momentum. By 2004 they
qualified for the Olympics and earned a nickname of Yamato Nadeshiko,
meaning the “Ideal Japanese Women”.
In World Cups since 2001 their only
loss has been to England 0-2 in 2011 and they have won every other
game, beating the USA in 2011 recovering to become champions of the
World.
England also played Japan in the World
Cup in 2007 drawing 2-2.
Japan were silver medal winners in the
2012 Olympics losing in the Final to the USA and they have won the
Asian FA Cup in 2014.
So, in the Commonwealth Stadium in
Edmonton tonight, Japan under the guidance of Norio Sasaki, meets our
girls. Homare Sawa is most capped with 197 (82 goals) and several
players earn their living in either France or Germany playing for the
likes of Montpellier or FC Bayern Munich.
No comments:
Post a Comment