VANCOUVER — Saori Ariyoshi and Mizuho Sakaguchi scored as Japan survived a late push to beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Tuesday and advance to the quarter-finals at the Women’s World Cup.
One of only two teams to win all three of its group games at the tournament, the defending champions booked the final spot in the last eight with the victory and will meet Australia in Edmonton on Saturday.
Ariyoshi scored in the 10th minute after Aya Miyama sent a ball in from the left that Yuki Ogimi headed off the crossbar. Dutch defender Merel van Dongen’s flubbed clearance went right to Ariyoshi, who slotted a shot into the far corner past goalkeeper Loes Geurts from 15 yards out.
Sakaguchi then put the game seemingly out of reach in the 78th minute by finishing off a great bit of play with a slick left-footed finish from the top of the penalty area. Japan’s second goal of the night was the country’s first of the tournament to come after the 29th minute.
The Netherlands scored a consolation goal in injury time when Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori completely botched a Kirsten van de Ven header.
The Dutch had come close to tying the score moments before Sakaguchi’s goal that made it 2-0, but Kaihori got a hand to a ball that deflected off one of her own defenders following a corner kick.
The Netherlands had a great chance to take an early lead when Manon Melis moved down the left side in the seventh minute, but she completely whiffed on her attempt.
The fourth-ranked Japanese dominated play in midfield most of the night and could have easily doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Aya Sameshima played a nice give and go with Shinobu Ohno that just went over the Dutch net.
Ogimi then jumped on a turnover in the 29th and tried a shot from distance that also went wide before Ohno saw her free header from right in front of Geurts just flash past the post right before the halftime whistle.
The Netherlands, which is ranked 12th in the world and could have automatically qualified for the next summer’s Olympics with a victory, came out stronger after the break, but weren’t able to really threaten until that late chance before.
Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema failed to pull the trigger on a decent first-time chance early in the second half before being closed down in one of her team’s few forays into the opposition penalty until very late.
Notes: All six of Japan’s goals have come from different players. … Japan has won three games at B.C. Place Stadium in the tournament after picking up two victories in the group stage. … Brazil, which lost to Australia in the round of 16, was the only other team to go undefeated in group play. … The Netherlands still has one last chance to qualify for the 12-team Olympic field by way of a European playoff. … The final will be played in Vancouver on July 5.