Jul 27 (journalgazette.net) - Hikaru Naomoto and Aoba Fujino scored two minutes apart in the first half to lead Japan to a 2-0 Women’s World Cup victory over Costa Rica on Wednesday, and the Japanese qualified for the knockout stage later when Spain beat Zambia.
Japan and Spain — 5-0 winners over Zambia — were the first teams in the tournament to move on to the round of 16. They are tied for the top spot in Group C with six points each, and seeding will be determined by the outcome of their Monday match.
Japan and Costa Rica kicked off in front of a sparse crowd of 6,992 at Dunedin Stadium, a huge differential from the record sales of over 1.5 million tickets for this year’s tournament. High fan turnout in Auckland and Sydney — there were 117,000 combined at opening night in those cities — have been partly offset by much smaller crowds in Dunedin, where attendance has dropped with each match from an initial high of 13,711. ...continue reading
