Yui Hasegawa, Ayaka Yamashita and Aoba Fujino were all members of Japan’s squad who were placed into Group C, meanwhile hosts Australia called upon Mary Fowler’s services in Group A.
And here’s how the Andrée Jeglertz’s side’s cohort helped their nations into the quarter-finals…
AUSTRALIA
Expectations and excitement was high heading into the opening match of the tournament where Australia hosted the Philippines in front of over 44,000 fans at Perth Stadium.
And the Matildas made the perfect start to proceedings with Sam Kerr opening the scoring with a smart header after 14 minutes.
However, the Chelsea forward’s goal represented the match’s only with Marc Torcaso’s team defending valiantly throughout.
There was further positivity though with Fowler making her international come back as a second-half substitute after almost a year on the sidelines due to a knee injury.
And City’s forward soon showed her quality in Australia’s next assignment - netting the second in a 4-0 win over Iran. After Amy Seyer scored after eight minutes, Fowler doubled their advantage when dispatching from close range.
A brace from former Blues defender Alanna Kennedy sealed the success on the Gold Coast.
And the centre-back scored twice more in Australia’s next assignment to earn her nation a 3-3 draw with South Korea which meant Fowler & Co. finished second in Group A and set-up a quarter-final meeting with North Korea.
JAPAN
Nadeshiko produced a flawless group stage run, scoring 17 goals and registering a clean sheet in each of their three assignments to finish at Group C’s summit.
This started with a professional 2-0 win over Chinese Taipei with Yamashita, Hasegawa and Fujino playing the full 90 minutes and Risa Shimizu – who’s currently on loan at Liverpool – featuring for just over an hour.
Japan then followed the win with an emphatic 11-0 triumph over India in Perth and Haseagwa netted her first of the tournament with her nation’s second of the rout.
City’s midfielder was then substituted with Yamashita, Fujino and Shimizu all unused across the fixture.
All four of Jeglertz’s side’s representatives were back in the starting lineup for the meeting with Vietnam which was their final Group C assignment.
And in the 4-0 success, Hasegawa assisted Riko Ueki’s opener before Fujino netted the third of the encounter which extended Japan’s fantastic run in the tournament so far.
As a result, Nadeshiko will play the Philippines in the quarter-finals.
