Japan won its first SheBelieves Cup title Wednesday thanks to its 2-1 defeat of the U.S. women’s national team in the tournament’s final game. It’s only the second loss to Japan in USWNT’s history and might help reignite a rivalry that peaked across a run of major tournament finals in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Japan struck first and early, with Yuka Momiki scoring in the second minute of the game. The U.S. found an answer soon enough, with youngster Ally Sentnor scoring her second international goal (and her second of this tournament), assisted by Catarina Macario.
Defender Tōko Koga provided the game-winner for the Nadeshiko in the second half, poaching a goal after U.S. goalkeeper Jane Campbell made a leaping stop on a Japan free kick.
Despite several changes following the opening goal, the USWNT was unable to find an equalizer, let alone a comeback-winning goal. They came close in the final minute of regular time, with Lynn Biyendolo sending it back to center back Tierna Davidson for a long-range shot. Japan’s goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita got enough of a hand to the ball to push it over the bar.
Wednesday’s loss to Japan is also Emma Hayes’s first defeat as head coach of the USWNT, having previously won 15 games and drawn two since taking the job last year.
Japan capitalized on U.S. errors
Clumsy sequences were expected in this tournament given the number of untested players that Hayes selected. In the second minute of Wednesday’s finale, Japan capitalized on a U.S. mistake. However, it wasn’t a pair of newcomers who caused the error.
Japan took a quick throw-in as the United States regained its defensive shape in the opening minutes, creating an advantage of momentum in a short-field setting. A clever through ball found Yuka Momiki, who ran beyond Emily Sonnett. As the U.S. defender tried to regain an advantageous positioning, she instead tumbled to the ground after not seeing that her goalkeeper, Jane Campbell, made a mistimed lunge toward Momiki and the ball.
It wasn’t the first time that Japan had taken the initiative early against the United States, having given Hayes’ side its first scare of the Summer Olympics by scoring in the opening minute. On Wednesday, the United States was again caught unaware.
Sonnett’s slip came on the high-trafficed zone of Snapdragon Stadium’s now notorious surface. The San Diego venue was the site of last year’s water-logged contest against Canada, one which finished with Alyssa Naeher’s penalty shootout heroics. Throughout the 2024 season, the San Diego Wave incurred multiple fines due to concerns over player safety on this pitch. The Wave’s season finale was forced to be relocated, again due to issues with Snapdragon’s surface.
Regardless, the slip couldn’t have come at a worse time for Sonnett and her team. With the veteran defender and 2023 NWSL goalkeeper of the year out of the sequence, Momiki set herself up for a very easy finish to open the scoring. The crowd at Snapdragon Stadium was largely stunned — but it was a goal borne from Japanese ambition that forced the hosts into some uncharacteristic mistakes.
An unclear goalkeeper succession plan
Last year concluded with longtime starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher calling time on her international career. She stuck the landing on a tenure that included backstopping to a World Cup title in 2019, coming up big in the Paris Olympics and providing a needed leadership bridge from a difficult 2023 through to Hayes’ arrival.
Now, for the first time in three decades, there isn’t a clear option atop the goalkeeping depth chart. Hindsight has largely forged a straightforward lineage from Briana Scurry to Hope Solo to Naeher. Alas, there is now a truly open competition in goal — and these three games didn’t provide much conclusive evidence toward appointing a new No. 1.
After starting the opening match against Colombia, Campbell made her second SheBelieves lineup on Wednesday. Her attempt to intervene and proactively clear the ball on Momiki’s opener was well-intentioned if imperfectly executed, and may have worked as intended if Sonnett hadn’t stumbled into her path.
However, Japan’s second goal came off of an unforced error by Campbell. In the 49th minute, Yazmeen Ryan — who was among the USWNT’s best players in the first half — committed a foul just beyond the penalty arc. Manchester City midfielder Yui Hasegawa took a sharp direct free kick, looping it above the United States’ defensive wall and toward the corner to Campbell’s right shoulder.
The Houston Dash goalkeeper made a brilliant diving save but ended up taking all velocity off the ball as it fell in front of her. Had Campbell punched the ball toward the flank or pried it beyond the end line for a corner kick, the score may have stayed level. Instead, 19-year-old defender Toko Koga was quick to pounce and was quite literally handed the second international goal of her young career.
Campbell’s acrobatic stop on the initial free kick is a worthy showcase of the skillset that has made her among the NWSL’s best goalkeepers even as the team in front of her has struggled. However, the ensuing mistake (and, to a lesser extent, the one on the opener) are the types of gaffes that one would hope don’t crop up regularly for a team with the United States’ ambition.
Mandy McGlynn started the middle match against Australia. She conceded one goal, having been caught with clumsy positioning on a point-blank header. Phallon Tullis-Joyce is probably the most in-form option in the pool as she continues to excel with Manchester United, but was only brought into this camp as a training player.
As a result, this remains an open question that’s seemingly no closer to being answered than it was entering this window.
What can the USWNT take away from SheBelieves Cup?
In the end, Japan deserved to lift the trophy at SheBelieves Cup after the most consistent and cohesive performance across all three matches of the tournament. They’re also just fun to watch, even as they’re clinical and organized. Mina Tanaka had her breakout performance with four goals and three assists. While the USWNT was successful at limiting her on Wednesday night, it was not enough to contain Japan as a whole.
Ahead of the final game of the tournament, Hayes expected “a very, very difficult match,” and that’s exactly what they got.
“Well, I think it’s fair to say Japan as a team are more played-in together than we are, so their connections and their application of their way of playing will probably be more pronounced than ours,” Hayes said Tuesday. “But that’s not to say we can’t have success, and it doesn’t matter if you have 150+ caps or your third cap. It’s about us playing our way, in our style, with our principles, and to execute that at another level, which is what this game will be.”
There will certainly be plenty for Hayes and the technical staff to pick apart after their first loss with the USWNT, but losing to this Japan team in February at this point in the World Cup cycle isn’t, nor should be, panic-inducing stuff. Largely, the tournament fulfilled its purpose for this particular edition, for Hayes to rotate through the full roster and evaluate players in the first competitive matches of the year.
“I think you want to learn this lesson now. This is the game I really wanted for players who played less than five games for the national team, (see) what’s missing for them and say, ‘Listen this is what you’re going to need to play at the highest level,’” Hayes told the TBS broadcast after the loss. “That’s what development is. We aren’t playing for the World Cup today.”
Australia, on the other hand, should maybe be considering something at least adjacent to panic after their last-place finish. They looked listless and particularly hapless in defense under head coach Tom Sermanni — a puzzling development as multiple players are in season in the Women’s Super League in England.
What’s next?
While the NWSL regular season kicks off on March 14, the U.S. is back in action in April for an Olympic gold medal rematch against Brazil.
vs. Brazil at SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, California
vs. Brazil at PayPal Park, San Jose, California
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
US Women’s national team, Soccer, NWSL
2025 The Athletic Media Company
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