China attacked from the start and Fu Baorong almost opened the score in the 8th minute when she slipped the ball between Japan goalkeeper Ikuko Okamura's legs only to see her shot go narrowly wide. China enjoyed most of the possession in the first half, but were unable to penetrate a sturdy Japan defence marshalled by Akemi Kato.
Both Gao Lihua and Tang Chunling of China went close just before the break, but the sides changed ends all-square. Finally China broke the deadlock six minutes after the restart from a penalty corner set piece, when Ma Yibo passed back to the pusher Ren Ye who flicked it in from close range and score what was to turn out to be the winner.
As the clock ticked down, Japan were left with no choice but to push forward while China tried to waste time playing the ball to the sidelines. Japan were awarded a penalty corner two minutes from time, but Keiko Miura failed to find the target as China avenged their earlier loss to Japan to walk away with gold.
China's coach Kim Changback said, "I'm very satisfied with the team's performance in these Asian Games. Preparation before the game is the most important thing. We prepared well before this game, so did very well."Â
Japan's experienced captain Akemi Kato said, "It is sad that we couldn't win today and it is a shame also. In the first half China had a very positive attack. We played nicely, but today was not our day. In the first half we defended the goal and their attack on us, but I don't know what happened.
"We had mistakes while passing and that was the reason why we couldn't win. We lost, but still we will be back. We anticipated the tactics of China, but still we couldn't make it up."
The final coincided with Kato's birthday and she said, "I'm still very happy today, I'm turning 36 today. I don't know what is waiting for me for this full year."
15th Asian Games, Doha 2006
Posted December 14th, 2006 by COBA
