The Japanese women's soccer team's journey came to an abrupt end as they advanced to the knockout rounds by finishing second in their group, only to be met by the four-time Olympic champions, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. In this matchup, the U.S. women's soccer team showed absolute control, with a staggering 71% of the ball, forcing the Japanese women's soccer team to focus more on solid defense. In the regular time, the Japanese women's soccer team and their opponents were tied at 0-0, however, in overtime, their psychological defense collapsed, and they finally lost 0-1. After the Japanese men's soccer team, the Japanese women's soccer team also had no choice but to pack their bags and bid farewell to this year's tournament!
This encounter of Japanese soccer can't help but recall the sharp comments once made by soccer commentator Dong Lu. In the live program, Dong Lu had bluntly said that due to the limitation of physical conditions, the progress of Japanese soccer has stagnated and it is difficult to achieve greater breakthrough in the future. Although the Japanese team is on par with the top teams in Europe and the United States in terms of technology and tactics, they are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of confrontation. The charm of soccer lies in confrontation, and the Japanese team seems to be struggling to build on this, which means that it will be difficult for them to make a qualitative leap in their performance.
Nowadays, Japanese soccer seems to be standing on the edge of that bottleneck mentioned by Dong Lu. Whether they can break through this predicament hinges on whether the soccer people can find a new breakthrough!
