England held goalless by Japan, win on penalties
KOLKATA:ENGLAND won on penalties -- yes, you read that right --to set up a quarter-final against the USA in Goa but till then, Japan matched them step for step on Tuesday night at Salt Lake stadium.
Nya Kirby’s successful penalty, England’s fifth, ensured 100% success in the tie-breaker and maybe now the monkey will be off their backs. For Japan, Hinata Kida’s effort was saved by Curtis Anderson and that made the difference between the teams after regulation time ended goalless.
True, England missed Jadon Sancho’s enterprise that all of Callum Hudson-odoi’s industry couldn’t substitute, but Japan deserved credit for showing discipline to neutralise a team whose skilful individuals have so far added up to more than the sum of their parts.
Lining up in banks of four that played close to each other, Japan didn’t let England use the width of the park. It meant space seemed as real as El Dorado for England. That Angel Gomes had to be taken off in the 64th minute showed the 53,302 present how Japan had choked England.
After an early try by Soichiro Kozuki which Anderson parried, Japan played the waiting game right down to emerging later than England in the second half. It is not easy for a youth team to sacrifice possession but Japan did it in the way that perhaps needed every bit of coach Yoshiro Moriyama’s huge experience with youth teams.
Knowing England’s ability with free-kicks, Japan also checked themselves from committing to tackles in their back third; left-back Kida’s refusal to snatch from Steven Sessegnon in the 53rd minute being a case in point.
Yes, all the English pressure did induce errors in defence --Yuki Kobayashi cynically felled Rhian Brewster and was booked and the central defender again erred in the 24th allowing Philip Foden a shot on goal before Hudson-odoi beat Kida for speed -but a combination of bodies at the back, England’s inability to take their chances, Hudsonodoi’s delivery harmlessly rolling across goal and goalkeeper Kosei Tani’s good night helped Japan paper over them.
Tani denied George Mceachran early in the second half and Foden twice and Brewster once in the first. In the 36th minute, a Brewster effort cannoned off the upright. And as they came close to forcing a tie-breaker, Japan added numbers to the attack. Takefusa Kubo scootered upfield but couldn’t finish with a good shot and Taisei Miyashiro’s firsttimer didn’t miss by much. They ended the stronger team till it came down to the lottery of a shootout.
CLINICAL FINISH
Tim Weah looked quite dangerous from the start of the game and his brilliant runs down the left flank kept the Paraguay defenders on their toes.
He finally opened his account in the 19th minute when he scored from a measured Ayo Akinola pass inside the box.
He followed it up with a brilliant finish in the 53rd minute. He received the ball outside the box and curled it to the top right corner, leaving the Paraguay defence stunned.
JAPAN DESERVED CREDIT FOR SHOWING DISCIPLINE TO NEUTRALISE A TEAM WHOSE INDIVIDUALS HAVE ADDED UP TO MORE THAN SUM OF THEIR PARTS.
A composed finish in the 77th minute handed him the first hattrick of his career.
“I don’t score a lot of beautiful goals as most of them are tap-ins. But I am proud of my goals today and I would like to thank (Andrew) Carleton and Josh (Sargent) for their brilliant
assists.
It was really a special performance for me,” Weah told the media with the USA flag draped around him.
SNAPPED UP BY PSG
The brilliance of Tim Weah is not restricted to the USA team. He
was a part of the New York Red Bulls academy, and at the end of last season, completed a move to French champions Paris Saintgermain.
Tim Weah knows it will be hard to break into the first team with a star-studded frontline of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and
Kylian Mbappe, but is confident his time will come pretty soon.
“I am pretty optimistic of making the first squad at PSG towards the end of the season.
“I am happy I will be able to train with players like Neymar and Mbappe. Let’s hope for the best.”