Japan players celebrate after Hinata Miyazawa scored the team’s third goal Saturday during a 3-1 win over Norway at the Women’s World Cup in Wellington, New Zealand. Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Japan scored its 14th goal of the Women’s World Cup and conceded its first Saturday, but beat Norway 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth time.
Hinata Miyazawa sealed the win with her fifth goal of the tournament in the 81st minute to remain the leading scorer. Risa Shimizu’s 50th-minute goal followed an Ingrid Syrstad Engen own goal in the first half to help give Japan its fourth straight win of the tournament.
With five goals, the 23-year-old Miyazawa matched the record for a Japan player at a World Cup. Homare Sawa scored five in 2011 when Japan won the tournament.
This Japan team already has scored more goals than the 2011 team.
Guro Reiten headed a superb goal for Norway in the 21st minute to end Japan’s flawless defensive performance and leave the teams locked 1-1 a halftime.
After beating Spain 4-0 with only 23% of possession in its group-stage finale, Japan once again was a tactical chameleon in the round of 16 – playing with more than 60% of possession in a commanding performance.
“We knew Norway were going to play to their strength but all of our players really worked hard,” Japan Coach Futoshi Ikeda said. “We made several adjustments in the second half and it was great that they led to the goals and the win.
“Whether we are No. 1, we will find out if we continue winning. We will find out at the end.”
SPAIN 5, SWITZERLAND 1: Humiliated following a blowout loss to Japan in the group stage finale, Spain quickly recovered to show that La Roja should still be considered a contender to win the Women’s World Cup.
Aitana Bonmati scored twice as Spain routed Switzerland in Auckland, New Zealand, and became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals. La Roja had never before won a game in the knockout stage in any major tournament, and finally advanced in its third World Cup appearance.
Spain rolled through its first two games of the tournament – wins against Costa Rica and Zambia – but Japan dealt La Roja a humbling 4-0 setback that forced the team to regroup.
“Sometimes when you lose like the other day, it is a very hard blow,” Bonmati said. “I think we should be proud of the work we have done. Right now what you see is a team, and you can see the personality of these players, and I hope we have many more days here.”
Spain Coach Jorge Vilda made five changes to the the lineup that was embarrassed by Japan.
The biggest selection calls were leaving two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas on the bench, giving goalkeeper Cata Coll her first appearance with the national team, and giving center back Laia Codina her first World Cup start.
Alba Redondo, Codina and Jennifer Hermoso all scored in the win at Eden Park, and Codina rebounded after her own goal in the first half gave Switzerland its only score.
NOTES
TV RATINGS: Fans of the United States women’s soccer team remain faithful viewers no matter what hour the game is.
The three U.S. group stage matches had an average combined English- and Spanish-language audience of 5,256,000.
Trying to replicate that over the next four matches will be a difficult task.
With its second-place finish in Group E, the remaining U.S. matches will take place overnight. Had the Americans won the group, their round-of-16 and quarterfinal matches would have been in prime time.
Australia and New Zealand are 14-16 hours ahead of New York and 17-19 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
The July 21 match against Vietnam (6.26 million) and July 26 vs. the Netherlands (7.93 million) were both in prime time and drew the two largest combined audiences for a group stage match involving the American women.
The July 31 draw against Portugal, which took place at 3 a.m., got an audience of 1,560,000.
Sunday’s match against Sweden begins at 5 a.m. Should the U.S. advance, the Aug. 11 match against Japan would take place at 3:30 a.m.
The Aug. 15 semifinals are at 4 a.m., and the Aug. 20 final will start at 6 a.m.
When it comes to the rest of the Women’s World Cup, the tournament has struggled to maintain audiences in the U.S. due to the time difference.
Through 46 matches, the tournament is averaging 610,000 viewers on Fox and FS1, a 37% decrease from 2019 (968,000).
The Spanish-language average of 135,000 across Telemundo, Peacock, Universo and Telemundo streaming platforms is down 30% from four years ago (194,000).
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