Japan's women beaten by Germany in bronze medal soccer match

Friday 22nd August, 06:53 AM JST

BEIJING —

Japan had their bid for a first ever Olympic podium finish in women’s soccer crushed with a 2-0 defeat to world champions Germany in the bronze medal match at the Beijing Games on Thursday. Norio Sasaki’s side controlled long periods of the match in drizzly conditions at Workers’ Stadium but substitute Fatmire Bajramaj grabbed a second-half double to secure the Germans their third consecutive Olympic bronze medal. Sasaki was naturally disappointed with the result but praised his players for their efforts in making the last four for the first time. ‘‘All the players have done their best. They did everything they could and put out everything they have been working for,’’ Sasaki said. ‘‘We lost but we will learn from the result. All the players did all they could and because of that I am very satisfied. We will go back to Japan proud,’’ he said.

Seeking to avenge their 2-0 defeat at last year’s Women’s World Cup in China, Japan bossed the first half and it was only some inspired goalkeeping from Nadine Angerer that kept the East Asian champions at bay. Angerer got down low to her right to palm away an Aya Miyama shot in the 21st minute and then tipped over a long range effort from Yukari Kinga. Japan continued to press and Melanie Behringer was next to come to Germany’s rescue, clearing Homare Sawa’s volley off the line in the 23rd minute. Sawa and Ayumi Hara both went close as Japan continued to force the pace after the break but it was the Germans who took the lead against the run of play on 69 minutes. Miho Fukumoto could only parry Kerstin Garefrekes’s downward header and Bajramaj pounced to smash home from a tight angle. Japan began to run out of steam as the match wore on and Bajramaj put the game out of reach when she beat Fukumoto at her near post with the second goal three minutes from time. ‘‘We wanted to be strong from the beginning but Japan were active in the first half and tried to attack and had five shots on goal whereas we had hardly any,’’ said Germany coach Silvia Neid. ‘‘We needed to change in the second half and the creative players that came on brought some action and fortunately we were able to score two goals. We are happy to get the bronze medal.’’ In the gold medal match, the United States beat Brazil 1-0 in extra time to defend its title.

Kyodo

11 Comments

boobug at 07:20 AM JST - 22nd August

Oh and here's your "by the way" moment from the misguided here at Japantoday:

"In the gold medal match, the United States beat Brazil 1-0 in extra time to defend its title."

Yes baby ! Once again, them Americans who know nothing about "the worlds game" lay claim to one of the sports top prizes ! And this time it was an undermatched US team going up against Marta, the worlds best player ! Excellent result and an all-around excellent tournement by the Americans as they close in on the 100 medal mark, again ! USA ! USA ! USA !
taiko666 at 10:58 AM JST - 22nd August

boobug: AFAIK, the only people on JT who've said that the Americans know nothing about football have been 'soccer'-hating Americans. Real football fans already realise that the USA are high in the both the men's and women's world rankings.
taiko666 at 11:11 AM JST - 22nd August

I watched the Japan v Germany match and though that Japan were truly unlucky, having the better chances and seemingly better skill. However, thoughout the tournament they've suffered from having a goalkeeper who just wasn't up to standard.

Being English, I'm used to Scottish fans supporting any team that plays England (a habit that even the leader of Scottish Nationalist Party has criticised as being immature and bad for Scotland), but even in the Scottish fans' most immature and spiteful moments I've never experienced the intensity of the booing dished out by the Chinese spectators to the Japanese team last night. It was utterly disgusting. And to cap it all, they only started it when Germany went into the lead! Complete cowardice. Truly pathetic behaviour, which I'd be extremely surprised to see reciprocated by Japanese fans.
ExPrinceska at 11:27 AM JST - 22nd August

Japanese team was pitiful, sorry but this was not soccer what they played.
ProudKoreanGuy at 11:43 AM JST - 22nd August

Too bad that no Asian team medaled in Soccer this time.
taiko666 at 11:47 AM JST - 22nd August

Have to disagree with you both here- the Japanese were more skilful, but they were simply out-muscled by the teutonic titans. And their 'keeper was awful.

AlfGarnett: like your illustrious namesake, and me, are you fan of the 'Appy 'Ammers?
dr_jones at 12:06 PM JST - 22nd August

teutonic titans, yea hehe that word fit well. But other country's female soccer players are no beauties either. BTW (big BTW here for the haters): It's shocking to see how Chinese crowd is always cheering for any country that plays against Japan but they never ever cheer for Japan! What is it with them and Japan?! How can someone hate Japan so much, I don't understand!
cesun at 12:22 PM JST - 22nd August

How can someone hate Japan so much, I don't understand!

Perhaps these feelings have something to do with historical war events (that I won't go into here)... or else I don't really understand either.

In any case, despite the loss, I thought Japan actually played reasonably well, and created some great chances they failed to put away. They could teach the men a thing or two!
electric2004 at 12:53 PM JST - 22nd August

Lesson learned: In Soccer the results count, and not the number of chances. One would expect that the Japanese team would have more steam near the end of the game, because of "Gaman" and "Gambatte" in the training.

But the German team shows that one needs to make sure that one is not too exhausted to early. So maybe the Japanese team gave all - and that was sufficient for about 60 minutes. But, sorry - a famous saying is

"Der Ball ist rund, und ein Spiel dauert 90 Minuten." (the ball is round and a game takes 90 minutes).
Altria at 01:13 PM JST - 22nd August

The 2 goals they let through were preventable. Disappointing finish, but they played some great attacking soccer along the way, something that can't be said of the dismal men's team.
boobug at 12:29 AM JST - 23rd August

"The 2 goals they let through were preventable."

I disagree. The first was textbook ! Near-post high! Nothing the keeper can do but pick the ball out of the net. Excellent game for the Germans, Japan simply outclassed.