Japanese players and staffs celebrate with the trophy. Photo: AFP-JIJI

Japan successfully retained their Asian Women's Cup title after defeating Australia 1-0 in the final match played yesterday at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan.

 Substitute Kumi Yokoyama netted the winner on the 84th minute to inspire the Japanese ladies to victory over the Australians, in a repeat of the 2014 final where Nadeshiko pipped the Matildas 1-0.

Australia dominated the majority of the match but squandered a lot of goalscoring chances including a penalty missed by midfielder Elise Kellond-Knight on the 14th minute.

The Nadeshiko who were on the defence broke the deadlock when striker Yokoyama received the ball from her teammate Yui Hasegawa and dribbled past her markers before unleashing a shot into the top corner of the net from about 17 meters.


The victory gave head coach of the Japanese national side Asako Takakura her first major international trophy since taking over the affairs of the team in April 2014.

On the same day, China PR ended their campaign of the tournament in a brilliant style by edging out Thailand 3-1 in the third-place match.

China's Li Ying finished as the tournament topscorer with seven goals, while Mana Iwabuchi of Japan was named the most valuable player after scoring two times and playing the full 90 minutes in each of Nashediko's five games.

It is worth mentioning that Japan, Australia, China PR, Thailand and South Korea have qualified for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France as Asian representatives.



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