Yui Hasegawa and Jess Ziu were both involved in big wins for their respective countries on Monday evening as West Ham United were once again represented on the international stage.
Hasegawa and Japan breezed past Serbia in their first warm-up match ahead of the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Women’s Championship, which gets underway in mid-July.
This time around they faced off against Finland, where they were once again the dominant side, winning 5-1 at the Veritas Stadion in Turku.
Hasegawa came off the bench at half-time in Finland, helping her side to a comfortable victory as she converted the fifth and final goal from the penalty spot.
An own goal from Natalia Kuikka on 13 minutes had put the Japanese ahead, but Adelina Engman found an equaliser five minutes later and the score remained level at the break.
With the added impetus of Hasegawa and teammates Riko Ueki and Hikaru Naomoto, who were also introduced at the break, Japan upped the ante in the second half, with goals from Jun Endo, Hana Takahashi, Ueki and Hasegawa putting the game out of sight.
Hasegawa and her compatriots will now look ahead to facing South Korea in the opening match of East Asian Football Federation E-1 Women’s Championship on Tuesday 19 July at the Kashima Stadium.
The Republic of Ireland may not be appearing in a major tournament this summer, but they still had a very important 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier to contend with.
The Girls in Green are vying for a second-place finish in Group A with Finland, which would see the victor of that battle qualify for the play-offs.
Ireland thumped Georgia 9-0 at the Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium in Gori on Monday evening, with Ziu playing the full 90 minutes.
Arsenal’s Katie McCabe scored a hat-trick in the rout, with Birmingham City captain Louise Quinn grabbing a brace. Niamh Fahey, Megan Connolly, Abbie Larkin and Denise O’Sullivan also scored in the victory which saw Ireland leapfrog Finland and leave their quest for a play-off place in their own hands.
