On Sunday 14 August, the U-20 Japan Women's National Team played their second group stage match of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Costa Rica 2022™ against the U-20 Ghana Women's National Team at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto.

Following their first match against the Netherlands, coach IKEDA Futoshi made four changes to their starting line-up, as NODA Nina and NISHINO Akane made their first appearance, while MATSUKUBO Manaka and YOSHIDA Riko were given their first start of the tournament.

The match started with Japan taking the initiative. While Ghana relied on their individual strengths to win the ball, Japan utilised their combinations to create chances. The first big opportunity came in the ninth minute, when Matsukubo responded to a through ball sent by OYAMA Aemu to strike a shot. Yoshida made an attempt to convert the deflection of this shot, but Ghana’s goalkeeper Cynthia KONLAN was there to make the save. Japan then had difficulty creating any decisive chances against the Ghanaian side, who tightened up their defence in front of their goal. .....

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