USA's Kristen McCann cebrates her first half goal against Japan. Japan
came back to win the game, 2-1 at the 10th Women's World Cup

USA Women Fall to Japan at World Cup

PERTH, Australia – Japan’s Kaori Chiba scored two goals, including the game winner with 19 minutes remaining in the game, to give her team a 2-1 victory over the United States at the 10^th Women’s World Cup.

The loss drops the USA to 1-2 at the World Cup, while Jaan improves to 1-1-1 in the 16-team tournament.

“We really didn’t pay attention to detail, and at this level it’s the small things that really make the difference,” said U.S. coach Tracey Belbin. “I thought the game plan was sound, but the execution was not.  We didn’t win the corners, we took shots from awkward positions and when we got the two corners that we did get, the execution was poor. We just have to be more disciplined in what we do and what we say we’re going to do.”

The U.S. jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Kristen McCann (Allentown, Pa.) deflected a Tracey Fuchs (Centereach, N.Y.) pass into the goal at the 14-minute mark. Japan answered with nine minutes remaining in the half when Chiba slapped a shot off the stick of Tracey Larson (Morrisville, Pa.) and the pads of U.S. goalkeeper Peggy Storrar (Mahopac, N.Y.) to tie the game at the half.

Midway through the evenly-played second half, Japan got a brake when Chiba directed a shot off the feet of the USA’s Antoinette Lucas (Richmond, Va.) and into the U.S. goal for the game winner.

The U.S. returns to action on Friday against Spain before taking on South Africa on Saturday. The U.S. concludes pool play with a games against England on Monday and the Netherlands on Wednesday.

“We have to win now, and I think that we can,” said Belbin. “We just have to pick ourselves up and make sure that we’re much more disciplined and stick to the game plan."

Japan 2, USA 1

USA: Kristen McCann (fg, 14:00)
JPN: Kaori Chiba (fg,26:00 )
JPN: Kaori Chiba (fg, 51:00)

 
Japan Starters:  Rie TERAZONO, Keiko , Akemi KATO, Yukari YAMAMOTO Yukari, Sachimi IWAO, Chie KIMURA, Yuka OGURA, Sakae MORIMOTO, Kaori CHIBA, Naoko SAITO, Nami MIYAZAKI,  , Erika ESAKI, Ono Mayumi,

Subs: Akiko Kitada, Rika Komazawa

USA Starters: Kristen McCann (Allentown, Pa.), Peggy Storrar (Mahopac, N.Y., gk), Tracey Fuchs (Centereach, N.Y.), Antoinette Lucas (Richmond, Va.), Katie Beach (West Lawn, Pa.), Keli Smith (Selinsgrove, Pa.), Carla Tagliente (Corland, N.Y.), Jill Reeve (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.), Kate Barber (West Chester, Pa.), Tara Jelley (Greenfield, Mass), Carrie Lingo (Rehoboth Beach, Del.)

Subs:: Mimi Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.), Melanie Meerschwam (Princeton, N.J.), Tracey Larson (Morrisville, Pa.), Kelli Gannon (Escondido, Calif.)

DNP: Jill Dedman (GK, Orange, Conn.), Jenny Everett (Rutland, Vt.), Kim Miller (Virginia Beach, Va.)