U-17 FIFA Women World Cup: Japan Beat Spain to Lift Crown
Japan deservingly claimed their maiden FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup crown in Costa Rica on Friday as they beat Spain 2-0. The Little Nadeshiko won all their seven matches at the tournament, dominating goalscoring opportunities in the final but after Meika Nishida’s fifth minute goal, it took until 12 minutes from full time before the contest was effectively ended thanks to Fuka Kono’s strike. Venezuela and Italy both broke new ground by reaching the last four, in an enthralling up-tempo contest that had Venezuela equalising four times, the third-place winner was decided. Venezuela’s scoring boots were, however, not laced up in the shoot-out with two shots hitting the frame of the goal and two saved by Italy goalkeeper Francesca Durante. Results Final Japan 2-0 Spain Match for third place Venezuela 4-4 Italy (0-2 pens) Japan became the third nation from Asia to win the U-17 Women’s World Cup in four attempts, following in the footsteps of Korea Republic and Korea DPR. Japan and Korea DPR have also been runners-up on two occasions. Asako Takemoto Takakura, Japan coach, acknowledged the trophy, saying, “I was told I was the first Japanese female coach for a national team. I think I would like to be a role-model for other females to become coaches not because I am a woman, but because I give my heart and soul to my players to put into them all what I have and make them better players. My wish is to be only a small part towards the development of women’s football in the future.” A record number of supporters attended matches at Costa Rica 2014 at an average of 8,885 surpassing the previous mark set at Azerbaijan 2012.
