Matildas learn next Asian Cup opponent<\/a><\/p>\nThe Matildas will face China PR in the semifinals of the Women’s Asian Cup after the Steel Roses required extra time to see off a disciplined and spirited Chinese Taipei at Perth Rectangular Stadium.<\/p>\n
And the Nadeshiko was once again breathtaking against a Philippines side set up to defend, defend and then defend some more.<\/p>\n
The Filipinas’ Australian coach Mark Torcaso made five changes to the side that secured group stage progression last Sunday, with 21-year-old goalkeeper Nina Meollo a surprise inclusion for her first appearance of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Meollo was heavily involved from the outset, delighting the vocal Filipino crowd with a slew of highly impressive saves, including a sharp stop to a wickedly deflected effort early on.<\/p>\n
But the dam always felt likely to burst and, with half-time fast approaching, it eventually did, albeit in a way rather ill-befitting of such an irresistible Japanese outfit.<\/p>\n
With Meollo having parried a cross into the six-yard box, the ball ricocheted from boot, to head to goalkeeper glove, before eventually finding its way over the line, courtesy of a point-blank diving header from Mina Tanaka.<\/p>\n
And when Toko Koga made it 2-0 in the third minute of stoppage time, an uphill battle for the Philippines began slipping into the realms of impossibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An inspiring Japanese side<\/p>\n
Japanese support at Stadium Australia was less visible, with fans decked out in Nadeshiko blue largely engulfed by Philippines jerseys of the same colour.<\/p>\n
However, for Sydney’s Japanese community, it was a priceless opportunity to see their team in action.<\/p>\n
Born in Japan, Sayoko is now Sydney-based and was in attendance with her daughter Poppy, who said the game provided her family an opportunity to connect with their heritage.<\/p>\n
“It means a lot to us because we don’t have any Japanese family living in Sydney. They’re all in Japan,” Poppy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“So, I think it’s a nice way to kind of connect with our family and for me, my heritage.<\/p>\n
“It’s somewhere closer to home than having to go all the way to Japan to see our family. It’s nice to support them here.”<\/p>\n
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Sayoko, Poppy and Harrison were supporting Japan at Stadium Australia. (ABC News: Henry Hanson)<\/p>\n
The family had never before watched a Japanese side play in Australia, and was particularly excited by the all-conquering Japan team on display at the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n
Sayoko, who wasn’t much of a football fan for the majority of her life, said the current Japanese women’s side had inspired her so much she had joined a team herself.<\/p>\n
“When I was young I never played, but now I’m really into it,” Sayoko said.<\/p>\n
Japan turns it on<\/p>\n
And Sayoko would have watched on with considerable joy as Japan flicked a switch after half-time.<\/p>\n
With the Filipinas’ resolve broken, Japan combined for five more well-taken goals, completely dictating terms as shadows lengthened on both Stadium Australia and the Philippines’ admirable Asian Cup charge.<\/p>\n
Central defender Koga nabbed a second goal on her way to a player-of-the-match performance, while Riko Ueki came off the bench to find the net for the fifth time in the tournament, moving her level with Australia’s Alanna Kennedy in the race for the golden boot.<\/p>\n
Japan will face South Korea in the second semifinal on Wednesday, before the Philippines dust themselves off for a World Cup qualification play-off on the Gold Coast on Thursday.<\/p>\n
ABC Sport will continue its coverage of the Women’s Asian Cup with radio calls and live blogs of both semifinals, beginning on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan has booked its place in the Asian Cup semifinals with an initially hard-fought but ultimately sublime 7-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[254235,64,63,596,941,268395,277,81246,13198,85,99016,254234],"class_list":["post-541781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-2026-asian-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-japan","tag-japan-vs-philippines","tag-philippines","tag-quarterfinal","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-stadium-australia","tag-womens-asian-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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