December 14th, 2019 was the third day of the EAFF E-1 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2019 FINAL KOREA REPUBLIC at Busan Gudeok Stadium in Busan, Korea Rep., and pitted China PR women’s team against rival Japan.

Fresh off their win against Chinese Taipei, Japan wasted no time in pursuing their second victory. In the 3rd minute, captain IWABUCHI Mana took a shot from the right side of the penalty area, but China PR`s goalkeeper PENG Shimeng was able to make the save.

In the 9th minute, IWABUCHI Mana and MIYAGAWA Asato ran a well-organized wall pass around the penalty area. IWABUCHI Mana finally capitalized on an opportunity and took the shot, putting Japan up 1-0.

After the first goal, China PR stiffened their defense and successfully turned away several scoring attempts from Japan. In the 42nd minute, Japan created an opportunity with a well-placed corner-kick, but IKEJIRI Mayu missed the mark in front of the goal. But two minutes later, HASEGAWA Yui set up IWABUCHI Mana with a nice short-pass, allowing IWABUCHI to score her second goal of the match and extend Japan’s lead to 2-0.

In the second half, IWABUCHI Mana had a good opportunity in front of the goal during the 47th minute, but China PR`s goalkeeper PENG Shimeng was able to stretch out a leg to deflect the ball.

In the 56th minute, China PR goalkeeper PENG Shimeng blocked a left-side shot, but IWABUCHI Mana was right there on the rebound to get the third goal of her hat-trick and make the score 3-0 Japan.

But China PR was still in the game. TANG Jiali had an opportunity during the 72nd minute, but Japan goalkeeper YAMASHITA Ayaka was able to hand-block TANG’s strong shot. China PR continued to bombard the goal with shots, but almost all of them were from outside the penalty area. The game ended in a 3-0 Japan victory.