Japan have been praised for a seriously class act for the Matildas after winning the Asian Cup.
The dominant team of the tournament claimed a 1-0 win in Saturday night’s final, breaking the hearts of the Matildas in front of a crowd of 74,397 in Sydney.
Japan’s Maika Hamano scored a wonder goal from the edge of the box, which ultimately proved the difference in a hardfought final.
The Matildas were impressive, pressing hard and creating plenty of chances, but Caitlin Foord missed a couple of chances in the first half, while Alanna Kennedy’s header and Emily van Egmond’s firm shot were saved.
It was a heartbreaking result for the Matildas and the golden generation of veterans who don’t have a piece of silverware to hang their hat on to signify their strength over recent years.
Japan was gracious in victory, forming a guard of honour for the Australians and even high-fiving their opponents as the Matildas walked up to the podium to receive their second-placed medals.
Watch Japan’s classy guard of honour in the video above
The classy gesture didn’t go unnoticed by fans, who were full of praise for the World No. 5 team.
One fan wrote on social media: “Love the guard of honour the Tillies formed for Japan as they went up to stage. Is that usually done? Very classy.”
Another said: “Japan just formed a guard of honour for the Matildas during the post match presentation- Superb sportsmanship after a wonderful final.”
Caitlin Foord had three clear-cut chances for the hosts, and Australia peppered the Japanese goal in the last 15 minutes searching for an equaliser.
But Japan clung on with some back-to-the-wall defence to earn a third continental title after winning in 2014 and 2018 — both also against Australia and by the same scoreline.
“I take a lot of responsibility,” Foord said.
“I had three really, really big chances and I need to do better there. It definitely hurts.”
Kennedy was named the Most Valuable Player of the Asian Cup in recognition of her campaign in which she scored five goals pressing up from defence.
“It’s kind of sad that we didn’t get the job done,” Kennedy said post-game.
“I think that’s probably what sucked the most, that early goal and then we were chasing the game.
“It has been a really fun tournament for us as a group. We just said in our post-match chat that the togetherness and the vibe around the team has felt really nice and really special. Hopefully, that can continue under Joe (Montemurro) over the next year and into the World Cup.”
“I think it just came down to that final execution,” Ellie Carpenter said.
“Fatigue plays a role in this tournament with rotation and all that. This is going to hurt for a while… I just don’t think we deserved this loss.”
Matildas coach Joe Montemurro said post-game: “The moment, the situation, having the coldness to put the ball in the back of the net … it didn’t fall for us.
“It’s going to be hard to bring them together. But they know deep down in their hearts that they gave everything. They did everything they could. They put on an amazing journey for the public and for their fans. I think we solidified us as a footballing team and what we mean. We just have to now start looking forward.
“I said to them after the game, ‘You should be so proud to represent this country. You should be so proud of what you’ve done. Don’t drop your heads.’
“They can’t drop their heads. They’ve got to keep going forward now because we’re at a very, very good point – a really delicate point to go forward at the next stage. I’ll be trying to keep the belief going.”
