Australia, China women’s teams qualify for Rio

Australia beat North Korea 2-1 while China defeated South Korea 1-0 to claim Asia's two places in the 12-team tournament.(Steffen Schmidt/Keystone)

OSAKA, Japan — Australia and China both qualified for the women’s Olympic soccer tournament on Monday, while 2012 silver medallist Japan was eliminated.

Australia beat North Korea 2-1 while China defeated South Korea 1-0 to claim Asia’s two places in the 12-team tournament.

Japan, the 2011 World Cup champion and 2015 runner-up, beat Vietnam 6-1 but failed to qualify for its fourth straight Olympics.

Michelle Heyman and Katrina Gorry scored for Australia, which was undefeated in qualifying and will make its first Olympic appearance since Athens in 2004. Wang Shanshan scored the only goal for China, which missed out on the 2012 London Games.

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