23 Aug 2004(Mon)

Well, Brave Japan's run at the Olympic Games is over.

Looking at the cold facts, it wasn't much of a run actually, because they won only one game and lost two. (I'm talking about the women's team here, of course!)

But there is no doubt they have put Japan on the map in women's football with that sensational 1-0 victory over Sweden and battling display against the mighty Americans at Thessaloniki on Friday night.

Although they lost 2-1 to a very experienced United States team, Japan received much praise from the Americans, even before the game.

I could not go to Thessaloniki, as it is 500 kilometers north of Athens, but I was provided with a set of comments from American players and head coach April Heinrichs about the quarter-final.

Forward Abby Wambach, who scored the winning goal on Friday night, knew the result would no longer be a foregone conclusion. Their last three meetings had ended in a draw, the latest being a 1-1 result in Louisville, Kentucky, June 6.

"Japan might be the most underrated team in the tournament. We are going to have to bring our 'A' game," said Wambach.

"This is an awfully tough game for a top seed coming into the quarterfinals.

"They (Japan) are very tactical, very technical and very athletic. They shut us down in a lot of ways in that game and I feel we may have been lucky to pull off a tie. Knowing that, we just have to be prepared and come out ready to play."

The two teams have highly contrasting records in the Olympic Games.

The United States, ranked second in the world behind Germany in the latest FIFA rankings, won the first Olympic women's tournament on home turf in 1996, and took the silver medal in Sydney four years ago, losing the final to Norway.

Japan, ranked 13th by FIFA, lost all three games in Atlanta and failed to qualify for the 2000 Games.

Since then, though, the improvement under head coach Eiji Ueda has been dramatic, culminating in a 3-0 demoliton of the talented North Korean team in Tokyo in April to secure a berth for Athens.

The rise in quality had not gone unnoticed by United States head coach Heinrichs.

"Japan has proven itself a worthy opponent in every respect. The last couple times we have played them it has been close games," she said.

"They are athletic, technical, efficient, tactically gifted and playing with a lot of confidence."

So, the dream of a medal has died for another four years, but I am sure the women's game in Japan will enjoy a post-Olympic boost.

It deserves to, too.

ends