On Tuesday, midfielder Yui Hasegawa stated that Japan can improve in many areas before the Women’s World Cup. But they can compensate for their shortcomings by playing with tenacity.
Japan, who won the world championship in 2011, will be in Group C at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20. It is the first edition to feature 32 teams.
They will face Zambia in their opener before taking on Costa Rica and Spain. Yui Hasegawa told Kyodo news agency, “If we think about the future of (Japanese) women’s football, we must reach the final. But if you ask me how realistic it is for us to get there right now, there are lots of areas where we’re lacking.”
“I want to be conscious of what we need to win, even if we’re not dominating games, being tenacious and the way of playing that is (required and) unique to tournaments.”
Japan reached the last 16 at the 2019 World Cup before losing to the Netherlands 2-1.
Defender Moeka Minami said they would try to build on the success of the Japan men’s team, who reached the last 16 in Qatar last year after beating former champions Spain and Germany in the group stage.
“I strongly feel we need to lift the mood around (Japanese) women’s football, riding on the men’s success,” Minami said.