Facing Japan, who are eighth on world ranking and 26 places above, a defeat was expected for Vietnam, but conceding seven goals was a rather shocking result.
Vietnam did not have a bad start to the game despite being pressed by Japan, at least in the first 18 minutes when they defended well and even created a few chances. However, the difference in level showed as soon as Japan opened the scoring in the 19th minute. A well-coordinated team play put captain Yuzuho Shiokoshi facing goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh before finishing cleanly. Five minutes later, Shiokoshi completed her double with a simple tap-in thanks to Yoshino Nakashima’s pass.
One thing to notice was that Japan brought their B team to Asian Games without any players that attended the Women’s World Cup last month, but they still outclassed Vietnam. It was a thrashing in the second half for Vietnam when Japan scored five more goals, with Remina Chiba and Haruka Osawa netting two each and a penalty goal from Reina Wakisaka.
Although Vietnam made all the substitutions to strengthen their defense, they could not resist Japan’s precise and effective attacks.
Japan topped group D to advance to the knockout round while Vietnam’s fate will be decided by results from other matches on Thursday.
Source : VnExpress
