Japan women's national football team (Photo : Reuters)
Defending FIFA Women's World Cup champions Japan will square off against world no. 12 the Netherlands at the BC Place in Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday, June 23. It is the last match of the Round-of-16 knockout stage in the 2015 edition of this tournament.
Ranked by FIFA as no. 4 in the world, Japan blew past its Group C competitors with three straight wins against Switzerland (1-0), Cameroon (2-1), and Ecuador (1-0). It may not be as lopsided as everyone expected, but it is clear that Norio Sasaki's wards have not yet shown their true potential.
However, because of lack of worthy opponents, they may not have prepared themselves enough in the knockout stage. This match against the Netherlands would surely provide ample resistance, though, to face Australia next in the quarters. As per Bleacher Report, a repeat final between the Nadeshiko and Team USA is not very far in the horizon.
The Dutch team barely managed to get out of its Group A round-robin if not for a timely 1-1 draw against host Canada in their last group qualification match. They won against lowly New Zealand (1-0) but lost to the Chinese (0-1) to settle for third.
ESPN reported that without the burden of being the favorites, as opposed to the Japanese, Roger Reijners' squad may find less pressure in the said game. Also, their 18-year-old striker Vivianne Miedema may finally explode in the competitions, and they surely hope it would be against Japan.
Prediction: The defending champions will blow past Oranje, 3-0. The Netherlands are just fortunate to land in the knockouts and the Japanese will impose their championship will.
Japan starting lineup (4-2-2-2 formation): Yamane; Ariyoshi, Iwashimizu, Kumagai, Utsugi; Sakaguchi, Sawa; Ohno, Miyama; Ōgimi, Ando
Netherlands starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Geurts; van Lunteren, van der Gragt, van den Berg, van Dongen; Dekker, van de Donk, Spitse; Melis, Miedema, Martens
