Australia v Japan scores, results, time, program, entertainment, tips, odds, weather, how to watch

It all depended on the first 15 minutes. Ellie Carpenter said so. So is Steph Catley. Joe Montemurro declared this twice. This will be the settling period. When will Australia or Japan set the tone? Tone is important in the Asian Cup final. Like a despondent band member, once lost, it’s hard to regain.

The Matildas spent the opening 900 seconds playing some of the best football they had played all tournament. In almost any situation, against almost any opponent, this could have the desired effect.

The only problem was one that the 74,397 spectators at Stadium Australia already knew about. The 74,397 people who turned out to watch the latest installment of one of Australian football’s most storied rivalries hoped and prayed that this would not be the end of both the 2014 and 2018 Asian Cup finals: another 1-0 defeat would leave this team 16 years old and counting without a trophy in hand.

But the entrenched problem in the lead-up to the most important match in the international careers of many of the Matildas generation was that Japan produced its music in a post-analog era. Their guitars and saxophones are tuning themselves. AI probably does this; They are so far into the future.

So when Japan takes the field to set the tone, it is them, not individuals, as their coach Nils Nielsen observed the other day. Their names are often forgotten; When watching their football the eye can only see the collective.

That was what stood out throughout the first 15 minutes, where the focus was on how well each Matildas player performed individually. How Sam Kerr almost scored in the second minute and how Caitlin Foord managed to score in the 11th minute is the unfortunate motif of the Arsenal striker’s match. How Kaitlyn Torpey wore the hybrid and how Katrina Gorry wore something else entirely. And that’s Mary Fowler’s best way of presenting herself.

Meanwhile, you barely noticed the machine spinning quietly in the background. An underlying tone so soft and smooth that it was barely noticeable in the middle of the initial action. Sometimes it only takes 15 minutes to prepare what will come in the 17th minute. When you finally have to remember Maika Hamano’s name.

While Australia stood on the sidelines daring their opponents to do something with the ball, the young Chelsea striker, on loan from Tottenham, smeared the ball with such deadly poison that no one could touch it. In a harrowing finale that joined other heartbreaks, not even Mackenzie Arnold could offer an antidote to a worthy winner.

This high-stakes encounter was otherwise relatively even. Possession was equal. Both sides had a good time on the other’s goal threes and both took every contest and pounced on every second ball as if their lives depended on it. Australia made 15 shots to Japan’s nine (5-3 on target).

The Matildas, on the other hand, will regret many missed opportunities. There were almost a handful of goals that required more precision. There were also times when the home team recycled the ball inside Japan’s penalty area, firing three, four, five shots directly at the goal, only to be blocked by all the blue bouncers up front.

And although Australia spent a good portion of the second half knocking on the door, it inexplicably felt like Japan had an extra body on the field as they dominated the final 20 minutes and their opponents defended desperately. There was no one explaining this. It was just as Neilsen, the eccentrically minded Dane-Greenlander, described his side on Friday: “If you turn off the lights in the stadium, nobody can see anything, they can still find each other.”

Except for one moment, the stage was set for Alanna Kennedy to cap a spectacular tournament with a sixth goal in the 89th minute to send the game into extra time. The ever-forward Ellie Carpenter crossed and the Australian defender and midfielder’s header was just on target. Speed ​​alone could get the job done. But goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita matched it to the centimeter and confirmed that the first 15 minutes really were the most important.