U20 Women World Cup (U20WWC) 2018 has been won by the Japanese female side, after beating Spain 3-1 at the just concluded finals in France.
Hinata Miyazawa, Saori Takarada, and Fuka Nagano, all scored to hand Japan a 3-1 over Spain for the 2018 U20WWC trophy. The win now means Japan hold the trifecta of women’s world cup at U17, U20, and senior level.
The game started well for the Spanish girls who knocked out the Nigerian girls, as they followed their tradition of controlling possession early in the first half, and as usual, were not clinical in front of goal, as they wasted so many chances in front of the opposition half.
A few minutes later, with her eyes and mind on the U20WWC trophy, Hinata Miyazawa in the 38th minutes, did what the Spanish girls could not do, by curling a long-range effort beating the goalkeeper to give Japan the lead.
Japan continued their pressure and would have doubled their lead within five minutes of the first goal from Hinata, but for the brilliance from the goalkeeper, the Spanish team would have been down 2-0 in the first half.
The game ended 1-0 in favour of Japan in the first half as the Spanish team were left disappointed for their misses in the first half, despite their possession play.
At the resumption of the second half, it was the Japanese who resumed from where they stopped, and playing like those who just discovered the vulnerability of the Spanish team, as almost immediately resumed scoring in the second half when Saori Takarada right-footed a shot beating the goalkeeper for their second goal, and then Nagano netted the third for Japan to put the game to bed.
Spain got one back through Claudia Pina, but it was too late for any comeback as the centre referee ended the game to give Japan a 3-1 win over Spain, and U20WWC champions.