Maika Hamano took a pass from the left with her back to goal, turned and launched a powerful strike from outside the area in a moment of individual brilliance that secured Japan a third Women’s Asian Cup final with a 1-0 win over Australia.
The 21-year-old Hamano, on loan at Tottenham from Chelsea, scored in the 17th minute to almost silence the crowd of 74,397 at Sydney’s Stadium Australia on Saturday night.
The Australians applied all the pressure in the last 10 minutes pressing for an equalizer but were continually denied by Japan’s defense, including Alanna Kennedy’s close-range header with two minutes left in regulation.
Japan had beaten Australia in finals to win back-to-back Women’s Asian Cups in 2014 and 2018 and has now won the title three times in the last four continental championships.
“I just want to enjoy it today because it’s only the third time that Japan actually managed to win this tournament,” Japan coach Nils Nielsen said. “(We) really deserve it, I mean we won six games — it’s OK we take the trophy.
“The girls fought with everything they had, so did Matildas, and they made themselves proud as well.”
The Australians, who reached the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup on home soil in 2023, had 54% of possession, had 14 shots on goal compared to nine for Japan, and considerably more passes, crosses and touches in the opposition box.
But as captain Sam Kerr said, “They beat us just off one moment. For most of the game, we had the better chances and definitely in the second half, most of the possession. So it was just one moment. Unfortunately, that’s what football is decided on.
“The last few games, we’ve had the moments and made the most of them. Tonight, they had an amazing goal.”
Japan, the top-ranked team in Asia, tallied 29 goals and conceded just one in six games in a dominant performance in Australia.
The Matildas haven’t won the continental championship since 2010, when Kerr — then 16 — scored in the decider.
Crowd records
The crowd of almost 75,000 for the final was a record for the Women’s Asian Cup along with the total crowd of 355,528 across the tournament that started on March 1.
Six teams from the Asian Cup — Japan, Australia, China, South Korea, Philippines and North Korea — have qualified for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Iran’s involvement
The 12-team tournament gained global attention due to the involvement of an Iranian squad affected by the Middle East war.
The Iranian team arrived in Australia before the Feb. 28 attacks by the United States and Israel triggered the Iran war, and their participation held the international focus.
Seven members of the Iran delegation initially were granted asylum by the Australian government, though all but two have since returned home.