Japan handed Spain a footballing lesson at a poorly attended Sky Stadium on July 31, humbling the European contenders 4-0 in their FIFA Women's World Cup Finals top-of-the-group tussle in Wellington, with 20,957 - 63% of the available capacity - on hand to witness this quite outstanding masterclass in playing out of possession. Spain had 65% of possession in this match, and Japan just 23%. But what "Nadeshiko" did with and without the ball, in comparison with "La Roja", was simply fabulous - they showed the world how to counter Spanish football. But if you think it's easy to do, think again! Japan's game plan required tremendously disciplined personnel to execute it precisely - it's not something many teams will be able to come up with in a matter of days. But "Nadeshiko"'s usual playing style lends itself to easily adjusting their approach when the opposition has the ball. And when a team enjoys possession of the ball as much as Spain does … Jorge Vilda's charges were swiftly into their stride, Alexia Putellas' angled fifth minute delivery arcing just beyond the incoming figure of Aitana Bonmati. Ten minutes later, the pair combined again, this time through the inside right channel, with Putellas' low cross intended for Mariona Caldentey. But Jennifer Hermoso stretched out a foot ahead of her and diverted the ball beyond the far post. By this time, however, Japan were a goal to the good, having scored with their first attack in the twelfth minute. Saki Kumagai played the ball wide to Jun Endo, who delivered a sweeping ball in behind the defence for Hinata Miyazawa to race onto and tuck home beyond Misa Rodriguez. Spain were stunned, but were soon back in the groove, following up the aforementioned opening on the quarter hour with an opportunity for Salma Paralluelo, one engineered by the industry of Bonmati and the overlapping run of fullback Ona Batlle. Ayaka Yamashita smothered Paralluelo's drive. Japan doubled their lead in the 21st minute, and Spain, quite frankly, looked like they didn't know what had hit them! Liverpool midfield general Fuka Nagano broke up a Spanish move and promptly sent Miyazawa racing through the inside right channel. Riko Ueki was up in support, and Miyazawa duly timed her pass to perfection, allowing Ueki to check inside Irene Paredes and let fly. The central defender lunged in an effort to block the shot, and took some of the pace off it, but succeeded only in sending the ball looping over Rodriguez's diving frame - 2-0. The Spanish were now in a spot of bother, and they knew it. They were dominating possession, of course, but were unable to come up with an end product because "Nadeshiko" were doing a terrific job in cutting off the lines of supply - it was a brilliant application of out of possession football, and to see it employed on a stage such as this, and in a country where the sport isn't numero uno … special!

To their credit, Spain kept trying. Nine minutes before half-time, Bonmati and Batlle teamed up again on the right, with the latter getting to the by-line before delivering a cross for Hermoso, whose header landed on the roof of the net. Three minutes later, concerted Spanish play culminated in a Caldentey drive which was blocked to safety by Miyazawa, who was as effective in defence as she was in attack. Just how effective in attack was about to be seen. Five minutes before half-time, Paredes' pass out of defence was intercepted by Honoka Hayashi, who immediately passed the ball to Nagano. She picked out Ueki further ahead of her, the second goalscorer running on before drilling a perfectly weighted pass into the stride of Miyazawa. She was tearing through the inside right channel at a great rate of knots, and took the ball on in her stride before lashing it into the top far corner of the net from twelve yards - 3-0 Japan, a quite incredible scoreline which no one of sound mind would have envisaged, particularly before half-time. Spain were starting to get frustrated - Olga Carmona was booked in the shadows of the half-time whistle, her last contribution to the match. Yamashita would deal with plenty of hopeful aerial balls in the second spell, but on the stroke of half-time was forced to grab Paredes' long-range effort from beneath her crossbar - a rare shot on target from the Spanish, in this match at least. They enjoyed other opportunities, Batlle curling a 48th minute effort past the post after being played in by Teresa Abelleira. Seven minutes later, Yamashita punched out a corner delivered into the danger zone by Paralluelo, while Abelleira sent another sailing over the target twenty minutes from time, after Paralluelo and Bonmati had combined to create a great chance. The game had long since been over result-wise when "Nadeshiko" struck a fourth goal seven minutes from time, and in quite some style too. Aoba Fujino threw the ball in to fellow substitute Mina Tanaka, who shrugged off the challenge of Rocio Galvez before racing past Batlle and deceiving Paredes prior to curling a gem of a fifteen-yarder into the top far corner. 4-0! Who would have believed it? And so nearly a fifth in stoppage time, with Hikaru Naomoto landing a twenty-five yard free-kick on the roof of the net. The group winners were more than happy with four goals, though - against Spain, wouldn't you be? Japan:          Yamashita; Takahashi, Kumagai, Minami; Shimizu (Moriya, 59), Nagano (Hasegawa, 59), Hayashi, Endo (Sugita, 85); Naomoto, Ueki (Tanaka, 67), Miyazawa (Fujino, 46) Spain:          Rodriguez; Batlle, Paredes, Galvez, Carmona (booked, 45) (Hernandez, 46 (booked, 89)); Bonmati, Abelleira (Zornoza, 72), Putellas (Redondo, 62); Paralluelo (Gonzalez, 82), Hermoso, Caldentey (Navarro, 62) Referee:     Ekaterina Koroleva (USA)