Japan's women's soccer team, Nadeshiko Japan, lost 0-4 against European powerhouse England in a warm-up match for the World Cup to be held next year.
Japan, ranked 11th in the world, is traveling to Spain as part of their preparations for the World Cup, which will start in Australia and New Zealand next July.
On the 11th, they played against England, ranked 4th in the world, who won the European Championship for the first time this year.
Japan attacked the match with overseas players such as IWABUCHI Mana, who belongs to Arsenal in the English Super League, and HASEGAWA Yui, who belongs to Manchester City in the same league.
In the 20th minute of the first half, Hasegawa created a chance with a left-footed shot.
However, Japan continued to be pushed back after that, and in the 38th minute, due to some defensive mistakes, England lost the opening goal.
Just before the end of the first half, Iwabuchi showed tenacity in front of the opponent's goal with his characteristic holding power, and invited a foul to earn a free kick, but was unable to convert it into a goal.
In the second half, Japan was unable to stop the momentum of the opponents, and again they were attacked by defensive mistakes, allowing Japan to add three goals and lose to England 0-4.
On the 15th of this month, Japan will play a warm-up match against Spain, ranked 6th in the world, who are in the same group in the World Cup primary league.
Director Futoshi Ikeda “There was something I saw, I will connect it to the next”
Futoshi Ikeda, coach of Nadeshiko Japan, said, "This match showed what we still have to do. Against the European champions, we tried to defend aggressively from the front instead of holding back. , and I was able to see something again, so I want to connect it to the next one,” he looked back on the match.
Regarding the next warm-up match against Spain, he said, "In the match against England, I think our players were hesitant about their play, so we would like to sort that out before the match against Spain."