(c) Stanislas Brochier - All the pictures in the Gallery
Last match of the day: France vs Japan. The challenge is very important as the match result will say who will play the final against Pakistan.
In the beginning of the match, Japan imposed its game whereas France started shyly.
6th minute : opening of the score on penalty corner by the Japanese Hatakeyama. It became more complicated for France who would have to won with two goals of difference to qualify for the final.
The « Bleus » got finally in the match and had several penalty corners.
7minute : France are not lucky. Soyez was about to score on penalty corner but unfortunately his scoop went on the cross bar.
21st minute : France caught up the score with a great action along the line. Genestet scored for France.
France pushed more and more but remained disorganized in their final acts.
28mn : Japan took the lead again thanks to a penalty corner on the right of the goal-keeper converted by Hatakeyama (second goal of the game). It was difficult for France to go in the circle because of a great defense from Japan.
The first half-time ended on a 2-1 score for Japan. They were almost in final.
44 min : Anai was expelled following a second yellow card and let his team mates at 10.
Despite its numerical superiority, France didn’t really manage to create dangerous occasions. The tension was palpable with a lot of cards. « Les Bleus » tried to attack backing by their fans but were not safe from a dangerous counter-attack.
63min : Sakamoto scored on a counter attack. France were knocked which had repercussions in the game.
67min : Soyez scored for France.
In the last minutes, France were playing his last chance by taking out the goal keeper in order to score. No success.
The match ended with a Japanese win 3-2. France had been too irregular especially on penalty corners. Disappointement was on all the french faces. Japan won his place for final. France will play against Poland for the 3rd or 4th places .
French player : Nicolas Monnier :
"We are disappointed of the result. During the 1st half-time, we missed a lot of occasions that we were unable to convert. During the second half-time, we were running after the score. Japan had three occasions and scored three times."
Coach of France : Scott Goodheart :
"There was a lot of emotion in this match. We had the objectif of winning the tournament. We are thus obvisouly very disappointed."
"It was a difficult win. We defended as a block. France are a good team who have character. I hope that tomorrow my players will have the same « fighting spirit » as today."
