At 22:00 on february 3, 2022 Beijing time, the second match of the semi-finals of the "Women's Asian Cup" began, the Chinese women's football team vs the Japanese women's football team. In the first half, the Chinese women's football team played very passively on the scene, and Riko Ueki scored a goal in the 25th minute. The Chinese women's football team temporarily trailed the Japanese women's football team 0-1 in the half.
At present, the Chinese women's football team ranks 19th in the world, and Japan ranks 13th. In the "Women's Asian Cup" competition, the two have met 5 times, including in the 2008 "Women's Asian Cup", the Chinese women's football team defeated the Japanese women's football team 3-1. In the 2014 and 2018 "Women's Asian Cup", the Chinese women's football team was defeated by the Japanese women's football team in the semi-finals. This match is also the third consecutive time that the two teams have met in the semi-finals. Considering that the South Korean women's football team has already defeated the Philippine women's football team to advance to the final, it also means that the winners of China and Japan will face the South Korean women's football team in the final.
First, let's take a look at the starting lineup of the two teams, the Chinese women's football team has a 433 formation, the goalkeeper Zhu Yu, the four defenders are Yao Wei, Wang Xiaoxue, Ma Jun, Lou Jiahui; the three midfielders are Yao Lingwei, Tang Jiali, Zhang Linyan; the three forwards are Zhang Xin, Wang Shanshan and Wu Chengshu. Wang Shuang, the number one striker of the Chinese women's football team, served as a substitute in the game because of his foot. Moreover, compared with the starting lineup of the Chinese women's football team to defeat the Vietnamese women's football team in the last round, the Chinese women's football team has 5 people rotating.
The Japanese women's football team lined up a 4231 formation, goalkeeper Koshi Yamashita, four defenders are Shimizu Isa, Minami Moka, Saki Kumagaya, and Mana Iwabuchi; the two back players are Hinata Miyazawa and Mana Iwabuchi, the forward line is Hasegawa, Nagano Kaze, and Hayashi Noka; the forward line is Riko Uegi.
After the game began, the Japanese team occupied an absolute advantage in the scene, the midfield implemented a high-level pressing, and the Chinese team played very difficult on the scene. Just 3 minutes into the opening, Nagano Kazehana pushed forward and gave a straight kick to Riko Ueki, who formed a one-handed chance, but unfortunately a kick flew the ball away, which was quite threatening. From the opening point of view, the skillful coordination and foot skills of the Japanese women's football team members have brought great pressure to the Chinese women's football team in the midfield. It should be said that there is still a certain gap between the Chinese women's football team and the Japanese team. So in this game, we don't look at the victory or defeat, but the hard work of the Chinese women's football team, and then think about our men's football team, maybe it will be better psychologically.
It was not until the 9th minute that the Chinese women's football team had an attack to advance to the front of the Japanese team's penalty area, but unfortunately, Yao Lingwei was offside when passing the ball. In the 10th minute, the Japanese team won the first corner of the game, the Japanese team picked up the right corner of the box, the two sides competed for the top, and was saved by Zhu Jue.
After 15 minutes, the Chinese team finally withstood the Japanese team's "rush to start", the Chinese team's possession rate rose from the previous 21% to 36%, and there was also 1 shot, while the Japanese team has hit the goal as high as 6 times, including 2 shots.
In the 25th minute, Japan scored. At that time, the Japanese team played a quick counterattack on the right side through skillful coordination in the midfield, and due to the large gap between the center-back and the back, the result was a smooth 45-degree diagonal pass, and Riko Ueki's header hit the goalkeeper.
Judging from the first half of the game, the effect of the Chinese team's change of team was a failure, it was difficult to make an effective "passing and cutting cooperation" after taking the ball in the midfield, and there was also a lack of capable players like Wang Shuang in the midfield, so that the Japanese team could unscrupulously invest heavy troops in the midfield and implement high-level pressing.