Former world champions Japan handed India their worst defeat at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with a 11-0 hammering, who still remain in the race for a spot in the knockout stage of the competition.Ranked eighth in the world, Japan scored five in the first half and six after the change of ends with Manchester United star Hinata Miyazawa registering a hat-trick. Riko Ueki, a second half substitute, also scored a hat-trick in less than 20 minutes, while Kiko Seike (2), Yuzuki Yamamoto, Yui Hasegawa, and Maya Hijikata were other players among the goals.“There was so much to learn from this game, playing against a superb Japan side,” said India midfielder Sangita Basfore. “Hopefully, we will do better in the next game. We still have a chance (to qualify), and we should be able to perform well.”India’s final group-stage game is against Chinese Taipei, whose solitary goal win against Vietnam earlier in the day threw the group wide open. Now at the bottom of the group, India can still qualify with a win against Chinese Taipei by a two-goal margin, a result that will see them finish second in the group and progress to the quarterfinals.Nobody really gave India a chance against the former world champions, who have 16 of the 26 players plying their trade professionally in England. Only four play in Japan. The depth of the squad was on show as coach Nils Nielsen made nine changes with only Mina Tanaka and Yui Hasegawa retaining their places from the side that started in the 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei.“The things we were working on seemed to be better in this game,” Nielsen said at the end of a satisfying performance. “I have been saying that the players need to put the ball in the net, instead of shooting wide. We worked on this in training and the players did just that.”India coach Amelia Valverde made three changes with the focus clearly on defence. Understandably, the Costa Rican coach chose five at the back and four ahead of them, Yet Japan were unstoppable, despite brave attempts from goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu.Japan didn’t have to wait long to go ahead, opening their account in the fourth minute through a spectacular effort from Yamamoto after the home-based forward sidestepped two players inside the box and beautifully curled her shot into the top left corner.Yamamoto then turned provider as she set up Hasegawa, whose drilled effort went past captain Sweety Devi Ngangbam, before settling in the back of the net. Within the first 20 minutes, Japan had raced to a 3-0 lead with Panthoi making three equally good saves.For the rest of the match, it was always going to be a goal count with Japan having 35 shots, 16 of them on target, and 80% of the possession. India had no shot, made just 161 passes and chased shadows for most of the 90 minutes.
