Japan edge hosts Australia 1-0 to win women's Asian Cup

SYDNEY: Maika Hamano scored the only goal as a formidable Japan battled past Australia to clinch a third women's Asian Cup title on Saturday (Mar 21) in front of a record-breaking 74,357 fans 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 tournament record set in 2010 in China, with the final setting a new attendance record 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 tournament games to reinforce their status as Asia's No 1 team.

"We had opportunities and they had a couple of opportunities too, it was a tight game," said dejected Australia coach Joe