9:34 a.m. (Central European Summer Time)
The scene of Japan's and Sweden's confrontation: Auckland, 8:30 p.m. local time in winter (so well after nightfall), a loud stadium with rhythmic thumping. In this World Cup, the hosts Australia and New Zealand have begun displaying Indigenous names for the cities: in the Māori language, Auckland is known as Tāmaki Makaurau.
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| Auckland skyline from the Auckland harbor bridge, 20 September 2019 Photography attributed to Jack189417 , 2017. Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) |
The last eight teams to be standing in the women's World Cup are contending for spots in the semi-finals, today and on Saturday. Spain already defeated the Netherlands in an earlier game, 3 a.m. in my time zone. Which leaves Australia, Colombia, England, France, Japan, Spain and Sweden in the running.
Sweden barely defeated the United States in the last round. Their game ran into added extended time with a score of 0-0 and the stalemate was only broken by penalty shots.
Japan, however, defeated Norway 3-1. In its team, Hinata Miyazawa has shot the most goals of any player in the tournament — five — which means that she may win the Golden Boot at the end of the cup.
9:59 a.m.
Both Sweden and Japan have each had a good chance at a goal, now. Sweden has monopolized the ball possession at 64% to Japan's 36% and...
10:02 a.m. ⚽
Sweden has converted a free kick from a larger distance to Japan's goal into their 1-0 score!
10:11 a.m.
It’s a tense game as we head toward the end of the first half — like a chess game that's become so close to the checkmate stage that the players hesitate a long time before advancing a piece.
Conservative passes between Sweden’s players. Japan’s players are challenging their opponents closely, In a sign of their fear of ceding any ground at all, Swedish players are also physically pushing them away.
Another Swedish goal attempt has failed.
10:16 a.m.
End of the first half. Not a very exciting game, admittedly.
But, aside from a little arm-pulling by a Swedish player (the Guardian's statisticians report 2 fouls by Japan, 6 fouls by Sweden) and a few falls, it's been pretty fair and polite.
10:38 a.m. ⚽
As a Japanese player lay injured on the ground, the referee walks off the field to review not a potential foul but a different interaction: there was a handball in front of Japan's goal by Fuka Nagano, who held out her arm to deflect in the row of players — easy to see from the front, harder to see from the side.
Sweden receives a penalty kick, and it goes in the far corner of the net for 2-0.
Japan's goalie looks understandably disappointed.
10:49 a.m.
Japan's been effectively besieging Sweden's goal for the last few minutes, quite a few players forward and near the net.
But after the ball sailed off the field, the ball is back in Swedish hands (or, rather, feet).
10:53 a.m.
A long ball toward Hinata Miyazawa is a little too long and sails off the field. But for a while it looked like she might have a chance at running on Sweden's goal, relatively far ahead of most of Sweden's midfielders and forwards.
10:57 a.m.
Corner kick for Japan!
10:59 a.m.
It ends harmlessly.
For Sweden, captain Kosovare Asllani is switched out, giving off her captain's armband to Magdalena Eriksson. Fridolina Rolfo is also switched out. Madelen Janogy and Lina Hurtig are switched in.
11:03 a.m.
The referee awards an 11-metre penalty kick to Japan after a Swedish player seemingly thrusts an arm into the back of her Japanese opponent.
It doesn't fully make sense after looking at the video replays, however, as there was only fleeting contact with Swedish player (Janogy). The Japanese player appears to have stumbled on her own, after Janogy was further away again.
Either way, Riko Ueki's ball bounces off the top bar of the net. At first it's nail-bitingly unclear if the ball was in or out. But it was out: no goal for Japan.
11:12 a.m.
Japan receives a free kick that no one would dispute: Eriksson had essentially scissored a player who was running toward goal. The free kick does not result in a goal, but..
11:15 a.m. ⚽
Honoka Hayashi scores her first goal in a game where she's representing her country, according to the German TV commentator! 1-2 for Japan.
At first, Sweden's goalie looks injured and is undoubtedly in pain, but she can keep playing.
11:19 a.m.
To catch up on the substitutions:
Aside from Riko Ueki and Jun Endo earlier in the second half, and Hayashi, Kiko Seike has also been switched in.
11:22 a.m.
Another free kick for Japan, but no goal this time.
...
The pressure on Sweden's team to hold onto their advantage seems intense: Japan's team is highly active, and 10 minutes have been added onto the 90 minutes of the match due to injury time etc.
Corner kick for Sweden ends in nothing.
11:26 a.m.
The Swedish team in general is looking passive and exhausted, also committing lots of mistakes in their passes etc.. Nowhere near as strong as in the first half.
11:27 a.m.
The referee blows the whistle: game ended. Japan 1 - Sweden 2.
