As the goals piled up, and the Japanese celebrations grew more and more revelatory, it was hard not to wonder where the showdown everyone expected had gone.
Japan and Spain had been the class of their group at this World Cup, with each breezing to two early victories to quickly lock up places in the knockout round. Their collision on Monday in Wellington, New Zealand — a meeting of two teams with offenses that scored easily and defenses that had yet to surrender a goal — held the promise of a good measuring stick of their relative strength, and of their respective cases as title contenders.
But that match never materialized: Japan scored early and often and cruised to a 4-0 victory that was as emphatic as it was surprising. Overrunning Spain’s defense with lightning-quick counterattacks again and again, Japan, the 2011 World Cup champion, scored three times in the first half and never looked back.
Hinata Miyazawa sprinted behind Spain’s back line to slot home a low shot in the 12th minute for the first, and then Japan kept right on running. Riko Ueki added a second goal before the half-hour, and Miyazawa notched her second just before halftime.
The goals were the first Spain had surrendered in this World Cup, but its defeat may come with a silver lining. With the outcome in hand, Spain was able to withdraw its star midfielder, Alexia Putellas, who only recently returned from a serious knee injury, in the second half. And by finishing second in the group, it earned a date with Switzerland in the round of 16.
That could be a more attractive matchup for the Spanish than the one that looms for Japan against Norway, a dangerous team that shook off some early discord in the World Cup to score six goals against the Philippines on Sunday night.
What comes next felt like a problem for Tuesday, though: Japan may have been too busy celebrating to think about that on Monday night. The cherry on top of its victory, a breakaway goal by the substitute Mina Tanaka in the 82nd minute, was Japan’s 11th goal in three games, the most of any team in the field.
It was also a message that perhaps Japan, not Spain, might be the team to watch from here on out.
