Women's World Cup Semifinal: Japan vs. Sweden

Frau A and I got to see a lot of the Women's World Cup in person.  Some group-stage games were held in Augsburg, so we attended North Korea vs. Sweden and then Australia vs. Sweden.

We bought semifinal tickets early on a gamble -- before knowing the matchup.  We though the U.S. would with their group, then win their first elimination-stage game to reach the semifinal.  We thought Germany would do the same.  Germany vs. the U.S. would have been awesome...

But as it turned out, the U.S. did NOT win Group C, (but did make the other semifinal game) and Germany lost to Japan in the quarterfinals!

So, even though the dream matchup would not happen, we took the train to Frankfurt to see Sweden (who we'd seen twice already!) take on Japan.

 

We arrived to see the opening ceremony and hear the national anthems in progress.  Notice the empty seats in the best section -- we think it's the result of German fans (who made the same gamble we did) not showing up because the German team wasn't here.

Sweden was attacking right-to-left in the first half and probably generated the most (and most dangerous) opportunities.

Frau A tool some GREAT photos of the first goal.  Sweden 1, Japan 0.  Only 10 minutes into the game.

On the other end, Japan was not getting much other than ineffective corner kicks.  There was a feeling in the stadium that it would be an easy Swedish victory...

But the Japanese team started to control ball possession more, and their attacks were getting sharper.  They got the equalizer at 19 minutes and took the tie into halftime.  Their attackes continued into the second half.

For one save, the Swedish goalie punched the ball away and hit her teammate in the process! 

In fact, Japan ended up with 60% ball possession and scored two unanswered goals within 5 minutes to open a 3-1 lead on Sweden.  On the defensive end, Japan were tight and for the remainder of the game.  Sweden created no real chances to speak of.

Japan were a pleasant surprise (and of course, would be an even bigger surprise in the Final...).  We saw three games, and are so happy that we had this opportunity.  It was a great experience and hope many of you can see games in Canada in 2015!