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3 juin 2018
Canada and Japan condemned to a group stage exit
Canada and Japan shared the spoils (1-1). Following this result, Canada finished second of the group C while Japan are third. Both teams will play a ranking game in the upcoming days.
Ahead of the Matchday 3, Canada needed a win to secure their semi-final spot while Japan needed as well a win to keep their chances alive. Eventually, the game between the two sides ended on a 1-1 draw. A result that means both nations will not play the semi-finals as Turkey won their game few hours later to clinch the top spot of the group.
Regrets are on Japanese side which lacked efficiency to win the game. However, the Canadians were the more dangerous in the beginning of the match. First opportunity, first goal. Verhoeven gets the ball back close to the middle of the pitch. He passes through to Bair. The Vancouver Whitecaps player pushes the ball and beats Obi with a left-foot shot (0-1, 10th). Japan try to answer right after but were stopped by a well-organised Canadian team.
In the second half, the Akinobu Yokouchi’s players came back with better intentions. The substitute Ueda was close to level the score but his powerful shot from close-rang was deflected by the Canadian keeper. Five minutes later, Canada thanked the captain Cornelius who saved his side. But Canada didn’t resist longer. Mitoma, who came off the bench at half time, got the ball in the Canadian penalty area. With a wonderful feint, he wriggled his way out of Canada's well-organised pressing and scored the equalizer (1-1, 60th). Japanese continued to push during the last twenty minutes but couldn’t score the winner.
Jordan Bozonnet
Japon – Canada : 1-1
Matchday 3 – Groupe C
Stade Parsemain, Fos-sur-Mer
Goals : Mitoma (60e) for Japan / Bair (10e) for Canada.
Japan : Obi - Hashioka, Tomiyasu, Sugioka – Fujitani (Endo, 74e), Itakura (Nakayama, 57e), Matsumoto, Hatsuse - Miyoshi (c), Morishima (Mitoma, 40e), Ogawa (Ueda, 40e)
Coach : Akinobu Yokouchi
Canada : Pantemis – Bayiha (Legault, 51e), Dunn, Cornelius (c), Kinumbe - Shome, Okello (Twardek, 56e), Choiniere – Norman (Daniels 68e), Verhoeven (Millar, 51e), Bair
Coach : John Herdman
Referees : M.Abed (FRA), M.Rahmouni (FRA), M.Berchebru (FRA)
