Japan's women's soccer team, Nadeshiko Japan, defeated Nigeria 2-0 in a warm-up match for next year's World Cup.
Nadeshiko Japan, ranked 11th in the world, are preparing for the World Cup, which will start in Australia and New Zealand in July next year.
Before the match, players and spectators offered a silence of about 20 seconds for the victims who died in the riot that occurred at a soccer stadium in Indonesia on the 1st of this month.
For Japan, captain and defender Saki KUMAGAI and forward Mina TANAKA, both of whom have experience with the national team, started the match.
In the first half, midfielder NAOMOTO Hikaru took the initiative to create chances, and although there were moments when the opponents were close to scoring, they were unable to score and ended the first half with a score of 0-0.
The stalemate continued in the early stages of the second half, but in the 19th minute, Naomoto, who was entrusted with the free kick, threw up a floating ball, which Tanaka cleverly trapped with his chest before scoring with his right foot. We took the lead.
Then, four minutes later, Tanaka calmly scored a penalty kick in the right corner of the goal to score the second goal of the match.
After that, Japan, who did not allow Nigeria to score with tenacious defense, won comfortably 2-0.
Japan will play a warm-up match against world No. 22 New Zealand in Nagano City on the 9th, and against world No. 4 England in Spain in November.