Background
Australia fashioned the first opportunity after only two minutes when Mary Fowler latched onto a raking pass from the back and found Caitlin Foord in the box, who teed up Sam Kerr for the strike that was tipped away by Ayaka Yamashita.
The Japanese custodian was called into action again in the 11th minute after Fowler outmuscled Toko Koga and sent Foord racing clear into the box but the Arsenal forward hit her effort straight at Yamashita. Out of nowhere, Japan found the opening goal through their number 17 in the 17th minute, Hamano was left with space to turn outside the box and unleashed a swerving shot that curled away from a diving Mackenzie Arnold and settled in the bottom corner.
Japan then seized control but were almost caught being too casual at the back when Yamashita’s underhit clearance went straight to Foord, who saw her shot deflected off the covering Hana Takahashi.
A quick break in the 43rd minute presented Japan a chance to take a bigger lead into the break when Kyra Cooney-Cross misheaded Hamano’s cross to Hikaru Kitagawa but Arnold was alert to save the low strike from the left-back.
Australia could have gone into the break level when Kerr found Foord in the box, only for the latter to drag her attempt wide.
The open contest continued in the second half with Japan having the first sight at goal after a Hamano backheel released Kitagawa into space to hit a first-time cross which Riko Ueki nodded wide.
Australia increasingly began to dominate and on the hour mark, Cooney-Cross pinched the ball off Fuka Nagano on the halfway line and tried to lob it over Yamashita but it lacked the pace to trouble the Japan goalkeeper.
With five minutes left of regulation time, Japan put their bodies on the line to block efforts from Emily Van Egmond and Foord, with Yamashita then producing a fantastic save to stop Foord’s header as they regained the title and banished the memories of their semi-final exit in 2022. [8]
Venue
The final will be held at Stadium Australia (also known as Accor Stadium) in Sydney, New South Wales. The venue has a capacity of 79,500, and hosted five matches during the Asian Cup which will include a semi-final. The stadium was confirmed to be the host of the final when the final stadiums for the Asian Cup was confirmed on 27 February 2025.
Built for the 2000 Summer Olympics, it opened in March 1999. [9] In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events, the stadium hosted the men's football gold medal match. The venue was also chosen as a venue for the men's 2015 AFC Asian Cup, where it hosted seven matches including the final, which Australia won against South Korea to win the tournament for the first time. [10] It was also the host of the 2005 shootout victory over Uruguay in the OFC–CONMEBOL playoff, which qualified the Socceroos for the 2006 World Cup, their first appearance since 1974. [11] The stadium later hosted the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup final and was contested by Spain and England. It took place in front of 75,784 supporters, and Spain won the final 1–0 through a goal from Olga Carmona, assisted by Mariona Caldentey.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
