On Friday 31 August, the Nadeshiko Japan (Japan Women's National Team) played in the final of the 18th Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Palembang with their second Asian Games title at stake.

Their opponent in the final was the China PR Women's National Team who they have beaten 3-1 at the semi-finals of the AFC Women's Asia Cup held in Jordan this April. However, as Coach TAKAKURA Asako described, “They have improved dramatically,” China PR has made a change in their head coach since their previous encounter. The rain that started to fall during the warmups stopped by kick-off time, and the climate saw a quick drop in temperature.

China PR kicked-off the match with a 4-3-3 formation where they applied aggressive pressure to force turnovers and sent long balls towards their forwards. Once the ball was sent upfront, they utilised the flanks effectively to deliver crosses towards the centre to take advantage of their height difference......

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