2023-07-30 14:31:30
For Spain, the Women’s World Cup really begins this Monday, where the level will rise in a good way in a duel against Japan (champion in 2011 and runner-up in 2015) that will decide which of the two teams finishes first in group C after the classification of both for the round of 16. Against the ‘Nadeshiko’, a nickname that the Japanese receive and which translated would be something like “known and loved by all”, it will be worth a tie to remain leaders in the last game of the first phase. The team led by Jorge Vilda already knows their roadmap for the next round, if they draw or win they will face Norway on Saturday, one of those teams that you always have to pay attention to in important events, while if lose to the eastern power, they will face the always difficult Switzerland.
Both Spain and Japan, who have similarities in terms of style and philosophy of play, will experience a very different match in this last game of the group stage to what they have played against Costa Rica and Zambia. Both teams want possession of the ball after facing counterattacking rivals and tight defenses in a confrontation that they arrive with a clean sheet and having scored 15 goals between them. “Japan is the team that is going to demand the most from us,” said the national coach in the preview, who warned that the Japanese interpret the game well, and have very high-quality footballers.
It does not seem that against the girls led by Futoshi Ikeda the paths are going in the same place as against Costa Ricans and Africans, who were also thrashed by the Asians, surpassing possession at all times. This Spain has arguments to compete against anyone, and in recent years the trajectory of La Roja has been in an ascending line, which is why they have come to the event in Australia and New Zealand to see themselves among the best.
Spain is currently a defensive wall, and this could be one of the keys to going far in the World Cup. The stability behind shows that the waters are more than calm in a group released from the controversy with the 15 rebels. La Roja is currently an oasis. Eight victories in a row – since February 22 he has won everything – and in the last six he has finished with a clean sheet. Goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez has had little work lately thanks, in part, to the solidity and leadership of veterans Irene Paredes and Ivana Andrés, although the latter will be out against the Japanese due to muscular problems. Vilda will not be able to count on Athenea either, but on the rest of the squad to make Spain recognizable against a rival that she has never officially faced at an absolute level in a World Cup, but with whom she has a history of joys and disappointments in lower categories. .
Japan seems to have lost some strength in contrast to the growth of the national team, which has even surpassed it in the world ranking. But although Jorge Vilda’s team is now sixth in the world, five places above the Japanese, the list of winners of the Japanese is surely higher, especially with their ‘elders’ since they were world champions in 2011 and runners-up in 2015, two times ‘queens’ of Asia and Olympic silver in London 2012, milestones still far from Spanish women’s football.
But they do coincide more in the lower categories, where both countries shine, although the Asian can boast of being the only one in the world that has won the world crowns at an absolute level, Sub-20 (2018) and Sub-17 (2014), these last two crossing the path of Spain, which has been able to take revenge and is currently the world champion in the two lower categories. Spanish and Japanese players will meet again this Monday after having experienced a rivalry when they were younger.
You have to go back to 2010, to the U-17 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago, to see the first duel between the Spanish and Japanese, settled by a clear 4-1 in the group stage for the former, where Alexia Putellas and Ivana Andrés were. Spain, European champion, finished third that event, and Japan runner-up.
Four years later, at the World Cup in Costa Rica, both teams met again with their Under-17 generations. The Asian won both the first phase (2-0) and the historic final (2-0), with a team already led by the talented Yui Hasegawa and Hina Sugita, two starting players presumably on Monday. The Spanish team already had figures who are in this World Cup such as Aitana Bonmatí, who will play 50 matches against Japan with the elastic of the Spanish team, and Rocío Gálvez, in addition to Patri Guijarro.
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