Underdogs don’t exist at this point
Head coach Norio Sasaki is a clever guy, but after Japan eliminated Australia on Saturday to advance to the Women’s World Cup semifinals, it was news to him that the next match falls on Canada Day.
The coach of the defending World Cup champions instantly visualized the possibilities, though. This came before the Canada-England quarter-final match had kicked off.
“To play a semifinal in a packed stadium, that is my personal wish,” Sasaki said through an interpreter, adding tongue-in-cheek, “I’m sure my voice will be heard.”
Maybe it will. But it will be harder without Canada.
Tournament organizers had visions of the home team filling Commonwealth Stadium for the 5 p.m. semifinal on July 1. But England vaporized that dream when it defeated Canada 2-1 in Vancouver on Saturday to advance to its first World Cup semifinal.
As of Saturday, 25,000 tickets had been sold for the semifinal, which will supply oodles of quality and competitive content, just not that Canadian rooting interest
Japan and England, ranked fourth and sixth in the world, respectively, certainly deserve to play in front of a full house, as Sasaki suggested.
In Montreal, top-ranked Germany and the United States, ranked No. 2 by FIFA, will play in the other semifinal on Tuesday in 50,000-seat Olympic Stadium. As of Sunday, about 45,000 tickets had been sold.
The final at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium already has been announced as a sellout.
Team Canada’s five matches averaged 48,380 spectators at the World Cup, which has drawn 1,196,039 fans to date, with three matches remaining. That averages out to 24,917 per match overall, third best in seven World Cups behind the U.S. in 1999 (37,319) and Germany in 2011 (26,428).
As defending champion, but also on the basis of quality of play, Japan is the current gold standard in the women’s play, regardless of its No. 4 world ranking.
When Australian head coach Alen Stajcic was asked whether his young, developing team should regard Japan as a model to follow, he swiftly agreed.
Noting that Japan won the World Cup in 2011, an Olympic silver medal in 2012 and the 2014 Asian Cup, Stajcic said: “You can tell. Their chemistry is fantastic. They are technically superb. There’s no reason the Japanese players are so technical other than hard work and practice.”
Well, that and time. Japan is the second-oldest team in the tournament, the average age of its players 28 years and four months. Their core players are in their late 20s or early 30s. Sasaki is guiding Japan through the World Cup for a second time as head man. So coach and players are operating at the peak of their powers and, as Stajcic noted, it shows. Japan is undefeated in the tournament, arriving at the semifinal on a five-game winning streak — and eightgame World Cup victory roll, dating back to 2011.
All of Japan’s victories have been by a single goal, which Sasaki believes has strengthened his team as the tournament progressed.
“That, I think, is a reflection of a very quick growth (in the tournament) of the team,” he said. “Also, the pace, the speed of their playing has improved a great deal.”
Nadeshiko, as Team Japanis called, don’t lose their composure in a one-goal game or a scoreless one, don’t deviate from their possession game, one that features myriad short, quick passes, and have many potential offensive weapons.
Japan has scored seven goals in five games in the tournament, the goals coming from seven different women. They have yielded just two goals; three of their victories coming on shutouts.
Asked to assess his team’s semifinal opponent following Saturday’s victory, England head coach Mark Sampson said he had not had a chance to evaluate Japan in detail.
“They’ve been one of the most exciting teams in the tournament to watch,” he said. “They haven’t scored many goals, but they haven’t conceded many.
“We’re playing the current world champions. It’s going to be a huge challenge for this England team.”
England, which lost 1-0 to France to open the tournament, has reeled off four straight victories since then, all of them by 2-1 scores.
“We still had confidence after that first defeat,” Sampson said, adding that he believes that early bit of adversity helped toughen his players up for subsequent matches.
Now into the final four, but the lowest-ranked among them, Sampson suggested such ratings are irrelevant.
“At this stage of the tournament — at any stage of this tournament, really — with the quality of the teams here, I’m not sure there are any underdogs,” Sampson said. “I think every game is a game where it’s (about) the team who delivers the best on the field and finds a way to get themselves through.”