Santiago (Chile) 27 Nov, 2016: Japan played a well disciplined game to hold France to a scoreless draw on Saturday and now need to up the ante against Germany to harbour hopes of qualifying for the quarterfinals in Pool B of the Women Junior World Cup.
The Japanese, making their debut in the Junior World Cup, had several opportunities to take the lead but an outstanding performance by France goalkeeper Mathilde Petriaux kept the scores level as the match ended in a draw.
Argentina, the 1993 champions but lost to the Netherlands in the final of the last two editions, were the first team to check into the quarterfinals from Group B after defeating Germany 4-1 to guarantee one of the top two spots. The Germans emerged champions in the inaugural Junior World Cup in 1989, finished runner-up in the
Julieta Jankunas got the scoring underway for Argentina in the 17th minute and Maria Granatto doubled their lead seven minutes later. She scored again through a penalty corner seconds before half-time break to increase the scoreline to 3-0. Captain Lucina von der Heyde completed the scoring for Argentina in the second half with Germany’s sole reply came in the 59th minute from a penalty corner converted by team captain Viktoria Huse.
The Argentineans lead the table standings with four points followed by Germany on three while Japan and Spain have one point each. Japan plays Germany in the last pool match on Monday and a win will certainly take them through to the last eight.
France’s Victorine Vankemmel, said: “We knew it was going to be a tough game but we gave it our all. We had to be very defensive, very condensed in our penalty corner territory. We had to face a lot of short corners but we had a very good goalkeeper out there today.”
England and Australia ended their Pool C contest with a 1-1 draw. The Englishwomen led 1-0 from a penalty corner after only four minutes through Erica Sanders. However, Australia’s perseverance paid off when Renee Taylor equalised through a penalty corner in the 43rd minute.
Both teams finished the day topping Pool C with four points with only one more game to play.
“It is always a hard slog-out with England. We let them get on top of us early on which were a bit annoying, so we had to fight our way back into it, but that happens in tournaments,” said Renee. “With a draw, we’re happy with that – it’s not a loss, obviously we want the win, but going forward it’s a steep learning curve for us.”
Host Chile stayed on course for quarterfinals berth by securing defeating South Africa 2-1. It was their first win in the tournament for Chile who lost 1-0 to England in their opening junior World Cup campaign.
Chile broke the deadlock after only five minutes when Fernanda Villagran Verdaguer scored high into the net from a penalty corner in the fifth minute. South Africa equalised through Gretchin Davids in the 51st minute but their joy was short lived. Sofia Machado Paonessa restored the lead for Chile three minutes later and held on to win 2-1 to keep their quarterfinal hopes shinning bright.
With Pool A and D teams enjoying a rest day on Saturday, the teams make a return on Sunday with Asian Junior champions China and Korea going into action. The Koreans take on the United States in a Pool A match while China and entertains Belgium in Pool D.
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