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Maika Hamano scored the only goal as a formidable Japan battled past Australia to clinch a third Women’s Asian Cup title on Saturday in front of a record-breaking crowd in Sydney.
The Tottenham star hit a stunning long-range strike in the 17th minute at Stadium Australia to break Australian hearts and add to their continental crowns from 2014 and 2018.
Those finals were also against Australia and also ended 1-0.
“I feel relieved, I think it was a 50-50 game just as I predicted,” Japan’s Greenlander coach Nils Nielsen said.
“It’s very difficult to play Australia in Australia and I have to say they made themselves proud.
“In the end, I’m just happy. The girls fought with everything they had.”
The edge-of-the-seat decider culminated a landmark tournament with more than 350,000 fans through the turnstiles, reinforcing the growth in popularity of the women’s game.
This was around six times as many as the previous record set in 2010 in China, with the 74,397 fans at the final setting a new attendance mark for a single game in tournament history.
The Asian Cup doubled as qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil next year, with Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, North Korea and the Philippines all punching their tickets.
The Japanese team stacked with English-based players were invincible in their run to the final, fluid across the park and defending well to steamroll everyone in front of them.
While Australia proved a much tougher test, nothing could stop them as they accumulated 29 goals and conceded just one through their six games to reinforce their status as Asia’s number one team.
“We had opportunities and they had a couple of opportunities too, it was a tight game,” said dejected Australia coach Joe Montemurro.
“But we were competing with the number six team in the world. Credit to the girls for their performance. It just wasn’t our night.”
Japan fielded an unchanged line-up from their 4-1 semi-final thumping of South Korea.
Australia made one change from their 2-1 defeat of defending champions China with Wini Heatley preferred in central defence to Clare Hunt.
The hosts were composed at the start, looking to dictate, and Caitlin Foord should have scored on 11 minutes when Mary Fowler threaded a pass through inside the box.
But the unmarked Arsenal striker sent her shot into the arms of Japan keeper Ayaka Yamashita to miss a golden opportunity.
It proved costly with Japan breaking the deadlock six minutes later when Hamano collected the ball outside the penalty area and unleashed a 25-yard rocket that found the top corner.
Foord had another chance when she pounced on a sloppy clearance from Yamashita, but failed to find the target from a tight angle, then scuffed another wide just before the break.
Japan were always a threat and West Ham’s Riko Ueki went close twice in as many minutes soon after the restart.
With the game on a knife-edge, Australia threw everything they had at Japan in a desperate attempt to find an equaliser as the crowd noise reached fever pitch.
Alanna Kennedy almost pulled off a late equaliser in the 88th minute, but despite intense pressure Japan were rock solid and absorbed the pressure to cling on for the win.
Kennedy was crowned the Most Valuable Player of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2026 after producing eye-catching performances throughout the tournament.
Australia’s 1-0 defeat to Japan in the final on Saturday did not take away a standout campaign for the 31-year-old.
“I’m happy to have contributed to the team but it’s hard to enjoy right now, but I’ll look back on it as a moment to be proud of.
“The support has been amazing over the last few years, and today we really felt the crowd behind us, especially in the last 10 to 15 minutes of the game.
“I think we showed a lot of heart and played one of the best games in the tournament and will hopefully build on that in the future.”
Agencies
