Australia were the only team to advance to the knockout stage with a perfect record of three wins and head coach Leah Blayney expects the Young Matildas to continue to impress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking forward to facing Japan and to play and represent Australia in the semi-final of the AFC Women\u2019s U20 Asian Cup is a huge honour and we\u2019re relishing the opportunity,\u201d said Blayney.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did our due diligence on Japan and we are well aware of what their strengths are. We have watched them play and we\u2019re confident of putting forth our game plan.”<\/p>\n
\u201cJapan are tactically flexible and that’s why they were the silver medallists at the FIFA U20 Women\u2019s World Cup in 2022. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been consistent throughout the competition and we are building the squad for the future. We would also need to evolve and be flexible in our tactical abilities and I\u2019m proud of what we have achieved so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zara Kruger, who scored her first goal against Chinese Taipei in the group stage, said Australia are well-prepared to face the six-time AFC U-19 Women\u2019s Championship winners. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll the girls are really excited and ready to go,\u201d said Kruger. We have a strong squad here in Uzbekistan. We have been playing well across the three match days and can\u2019t wait for the opportunity to face Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good feeling to score the goal in our previous game against Chinese Taipei. If given a chance, everyone is looking forward to scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Japan tactician Kano Michihisa, while expecting a tough challenge, was equally confident of his team\u2019s chances. <\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow’s game against Australia will be tough but we have been preparing the team since 2023,\u201d said Michihisa. \u201cOur goal is to win the match and all the players are prepared.”<\/p>\n
\u201cOur 1-0 defeat against DPR Korea (in the group stage) has given us the hunger and desire to win. The players know what is expected of them and we want nothing more than to reach the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know they have a physical advantage and most of their players play abroad but that\u2019s not going to be a problem for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suzu Amano, who scored a spectacular free-kick against China PR on Matchday Two, was equally confident of Japan\u2019s ability to see off Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want everyone in the team to give everything for tomorrow\u2019s game and fight for the win. We will come in with a strong mentality and the whole team is relaxed and ready to perform their best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia were the only team to advance to the knockout stage with a perfect record of three wins and head coach Leah Blayney expects the Young Matildas to continue to impress. \u201cWe are looking forward to facing Japan and to play and represent Australia in the semi-final of the AFC Women\u2019s U20 Asian Cup is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":954962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20967],"tags":[3733,28042],"class_list":["post-954957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afc-news","tag-afc","tag-afc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=954957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/954962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=954957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=954957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=954957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}