(Wellington) Japan scored their 14th goal at the Women’s World Cup in soccer and conceded their first on Saturday, beating Norway 3-1 to advance to the quarter-finals for a fourth time.
Hinata Miyazawa confirmed Japan’s victory by scoring her fifth goal of the tournament in the 81st minute of play. She remains the event’s top scorer.
Risa Shimizu also scored for Japan, who also benefited from an own goal from Ingrid Syrstad Engen in the first half.
Guro Reiten scored a superb header for Norway in the 21st minute, ending Japan’s perfect streak.
After beating Spain 4-0 despite having just 23% possession of the ball in their last game of the preliminary round, Japan showed their versatility in the round of 16. This time they beat Norway while having more than 60% ownership.
In the quarter-finals, Japan, champions of the tournament in 2011, will face the winner of the duel between Sweden and the United States.
Aitana Bonmati scored twice as Spain thrashed Switzerland 5-1 to advance to the quarter-finals on Saturday in Auckland.
This is the first time that La Roja has won a knockout game at the Women’s World Cup.
In the preliminary round, Spain easily won their first two games against Costa Rica and Zambia, before suffering an embarrassing 4-0 loss against Japan.
Jorge Vilda’s troop recovered in time. Alba Redondo, Laia Codina and Jennifer Hermoso also scored for Spain.
Codina redeemed herself after scoring an own goal in the first half, giving Switzerland their only goal of the match.
Switzerland finished top of Group A despite two 0-0 draws, but were one of three sides to qualify for the knockout stage after not allowing a goal in the preliminary round.
However, Switzerland found themselves trailing 4-1 after the first half. Bonmati started the ball rolling from the fifth minute of play.
After Codina had given Switzerland the equalizer in the 11th minute, Redondo put Spain back in front about six minutes later. Bonmati returned in the 36th minute, then Codina scored in the right net in the 45th minute.
In the quarter-finals, Spain will cross swords with the Netherlands or South Africa.
