Japan Cruises to 5-0 Opening Win over Zambia at Women's World Cup

Japan's Jun Endo celebrates her goal with teammate Hinata Miyazawa, left, during the Women's World Cup Group C soccer match between Zambia and Japan in Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Mendez)
Japan's Jun Endo celebrates her goal with teammate Hinata Miyazawa, left, during the Women's World Cup Group C soccer match between Zambia and Japan in Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Mendez)
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Japan Cruises to 5-0 Opening Win over Zambia at Women's World Cup

Japan's Jun Endo celebrates her goal with teammate Hinata Miyazawa, left, during the Women's World Cup Group C soccer match between Zambia and Japan in Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Mendez)
Japan's Jun Endo celebrates her goal with teammate Hinata Miyazawa, left, during the Women's World Cup Group C soccer match between Zambia and Japan in Hamilton, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Mendez)

Hinata Miyazawa scored a pair of goals, while Mina Tanaka and Jun Endo each added a goal and an assist, as Japan shut out Zambia 5-0 to open Women’s World Cup play Saturday for both sides.
Miyazawa found the back of the net with one-time finishes on either side of halftime to secure an easy win over the Copper Queens in what was their World Cup debut, The Associated Press reported.
Tanaka, denied goals twice on offside calls, scored in similar fashion in the 55th minute, assisted by Endo.
Endo then scored in the 71st minute, finding herself alone on the left side of goalkeeper Catherine Musonda’s goal and slotting home a left-footed strike.
Not only did Tanaka see two goals called back by VAR for offside, the Nakeshido were awarded an early second-half penalty only to see it rescinded for yet another offside call.
The Group C clash was the first time a senior World Cup match was hosted at Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium. Saturday’s attendance of 16,111 nearly filled the stadium that holds just over 18,000.
Zambia struggled to find its footing in its World Cup debut. Star striker Barbra Banda found herself isolated at the top of the pitch and marked by three Japanese defenders for much of the night.
Deep into second-half injury time, the Copper Queens' fortunes went from bad to worse as goalkeeper Catherine Musonda, who started the match in place of an injured Hazel Nali, was sent off with a second yellow card for a foul in the box.
Initially, Riko Ueki’s penalty hit the underside of the crossbar, but VAR ruled the penalty be retaken for goalkeeper encroachment. Ueki sent her second chance into the lower right corner of the net.
KEY MOMENT
Aoba Fujino nearly scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the match, but it was her ranging run and subsequent assist in the 43rd minute that put Japan in control. The victory was Fujino’s first World Cup match and first assist for her country at just 19 years old.
WHY IT MATTERS
Japan now sits first in Group C, ahead of Spain on goals scored, and the Nakeshido remain unbeaten in opening World Cup matches since 1995. With a loss and five goals to the bad on goal differential, Zambia faces a longshot fight to qualify for the round of 16 with Spain and Costa Rica as its next opponents.
WHAT’S NEXT
Japan will travel to Dunedin to face Costa Rica, who were shut out 3-0 in a poor showing against Spain. Zambia will take on a confident La Roja in its second match of the group stage in Auckland. Both matches will be played on Wednesday.



Valencia Wins Again as Javier Guerra Strike Downs Toothless Sevilla

Valencia's players at the end of the Spanish LaLiga match between Valencia CF and Sevilla FC in Valencia, Spain, 11 April 2025. (EPA)
Valencia's players at the end of the Spanish LaLiga match between Valencia CF and Sevilla FC in Valencia, Spain, 11 April 2025. (EPA)
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Valencia Wins Again as Javier Guerra Strike Downs Toothless Sevilla

Valencia's players at the end of the Spanish LaLiga match between Valencia CF and Sevilla FC in Valencia, Spain, 11 April 2025. (EPA)
Valencia's players at the end of the Spanish LaLiga match between Valencia CF and Sevilla FC in Valencia, Spain, 11 April 2025. (EPA)

Valencia beat Sevilla 1-0 to extend its unbeaten run to six games and leapfrog its rival into 12th place in La Liga on Friday.

The win came courtesy of a Javier Guerra strike in first-half stoppage time and followed the 2-1 win against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last week.

However, the result in front of 46,000 fans at Mestalla Stadium was a bitter one for Sevilla, which in the first half had a goal disallowed and a penalty award rescinded after a video review.

“It’s very easy to analyze the match,” said Ørjan Nyland, Sevilla’s Norwegian goalkeeper. “The disallowed goal should have given us the chance to go one-nil up. Then the uncalled penalty ends with a goal in our box. They scored despite doing very little in the first half, with the only chance they had. We have to score as well — we had opportunities to do so in the first half.”

The result lifted Valencia one point above Sevilla, which has lost four games in a row.