VANCOUVER—It is said that champions find a way to win even when they don’t play particularly well. Another truism is that referees often give the benefit of the doubt to elite teams.
Both of these were key themes Monday night at BC Place, as FIFA Women’s World Cup holders Japan defeated tournament debutants Switzerland 1-0 in front of 25,942 fans in Group C.
Truth be told, for much of the match it didn’t look like one of the top teams in the world up against a country only now showing its mettle in the women’s game, and it was only down to a highly controversial penalty that Japan walked away with all three points.
For the uninitiated, Japan walked away with all the marbles at the 2011 World Cup, and bagged a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In contrast, Switzerland has never played at this level before.
On Monday’s decisive play, forward Yuki Ogimi hit a delightful chipped ball over the Swiss backline into the path of Kozue Ando, only for goalkeeper Gaelle Thalmann to bravely intervene. With her eyes on the ball, the Swiss netminder made contact with it before following through into Ando.
The play prompted referee Lucila Venegas to point to the spot, but it will be a highly debated call. While refereeing has shifted in recent times to eliminate outfield players following through on tackles, even if they get the ball first, this has never applied to goalkeepers. To add insult to injury, Venegas also handed Thalmann a yellow card.
Regardless of whether the call was the correct one, Japanese captain Aya Miyama, who was industrious throughout, made no mistake from the spot in the 29th minute, calmly slotting the ball into the left corner of the goal.
This is where perhaps some would expect a newcomer like Switzerland to buckle. They had every excuse, with a largely partisan Japanese crowd in Vancouver cheering as Miyama converted the ill-won penalty. Instead, the underdogs rallied, with Ramona Bachmann the star of the European side slaloming through Japanese defenders for much of the match.
Her finest moment came in the 55th minute, as she got virtually everyone off their seat with a scintillating run in which she beat three opponents, then the goalkeeper, only to slip near the end-line. That was but a sample of her ingenuity and energy on the night, as she tormented the Asian champions.
Cruelly, for Bachmann and her side, the match’s star had a chance to equalize in stoppage time, as the ball fell to her in the box with just seconds left in the match. Perhaps the moment got to the 24 year old, but she skied her shot with Japanese goalkeeper Erina Yamane well out of position. It will be a miss that will haunt her dreams.
Still, for all of the danger and excitement Bachmann brought to this match, Japan did have other opportunities, perhaps the best of which came in the 68th minute, as substitute Yuika Sugasawa hit a wonderful curled effort which looked destined for the corner, only to smack off the upright.
The major takeaway from this match is that the women’s game continues to improve at a rapid pace. Many observers had looked at Group C as an easy draw for the world champion Japan, as Switzerland, Ecuador and Cameroon are all teams making their debut at this level.
But Monday’s action has shown that the Swiss will be a contender to emerge from the group, if they can replicate the sort of performance they put together in their first outing. There is a chance the team played above itself given it was its first ever match at this level. Alternatively, perhaps they come into this tournament underrated—after all, the Swiss were the first side to qualify for Canada 2015 and were undefeated in qualifying with nine wins and a draw in their 10 matches.
For Japan, the lacklustre performance won’t be causing coach Norio Sasaki to drastically change things, but he will be looking for an improvement from his side. The Japanese struggled to penetrate Switzerland in any meaningful way, and had they not received that gift of a penalty and enjoyed the fortune of Bachmann’s uncharacteristic late miss in stoppage time, this could have been a very different result.
But it wasn’t, and so with this win and matches against lowly Cameroon and Ecuador to come, Japan looks set to comfortably qualify for the next round.
The road out of Group C will be tougher for Switzerland after this result—it will likely need wins against Cameroon and Ecuador to advance. How the European side matches up with the powerful and speedy Cameroonians, which thrashed Ecuador 6-0 in the first match of Monday’s double-header in Vancouver, will likely be the most interesting storyline of this group.