Japan beat Spain 4-0 in the final round of the Women's World Cup Final Week, an incredibly good performance that not only qualified them for the final round, but also scored 11 goals and conceded only 1 in the 3 rounds of the group stage.
Yamato Nadeshiko has always been a skillful and possession-oriented team, but I also appreciate their ability to play more directly. They make long passes and use both wings to launch counterattacks at high speeds, leaving their opponents defenseless.
Hinata Miyazawa scored 4 goals on her own, while Miminami Tanaka, Jun Endo and Riko Ueki also scored and assisted, so they have different players up front to generate threats. In addition, Japan's goal kicking is also quite efficient, which means that even though they didn't create many chances against Spain, they were able to score every time.
Norway didn't perform well in the group stage and will have to improve in the knockout stage. They need to be disciplined and tight in defense to prevent Japan from gaining space to play, and I think Viktoria will have a big role to play in the middle of the midfield as she will try to disrupt Japan's attack. However, the Norwegian offense also has some quality and I believe they have the ability to cause problems for the Japanese defense. Guro Leiden and Caroline Hansen will need to play important roles, and the team is hoping that Higashi Kabo will be able to come back from injury in time.
