The 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final betting, a USA Women v Japan Women encounter on Sunday, July 17th looks to be in favour of the USA Women. The USA Women soccer team have really battled their way through the tournament. The USA Women came through their group stage with two wins and a defeat, suffered against strong European side Sweden Women. That put the USA Women into a tough quarter final against Brazil Women after failing to secure top spot in the group and this giant clash was expected to go the way of the South Americans. However, the USA Women managed to salvage a draw at the end of 90 minutes after being 2-1 down in the match, and they scrapped and battled all the way to a penalty shoot out which they won 5-3. It was then onto on of the 2011 FIFA Women’s best sides, France Women, in the semi finals. With the USA grabbing an opening lead, something which they have been good at, they were largely second best to the slick French game, despite the final 3-1 score line ending up in their favour. At the start of the second half especially, France Women threw everything but the kitchen sink at the USA Women in an attempt to get back in the game, and when they equalised, the game was such one way traffic that it looked inevitable that the French Women would be progressing. The USA were out worked, out passed, out controlled in the middle of the park, but break away goals from the Americans, saw them kill off the tie in the second half, and the France Women just had the wind knocked out them.
That battling, that gritty digging in when things haven’t been going their way, has been a feature of the USA Women’s 2011 FIFA World Cup campaign. They have by no means played the best football in the tournament. That honour can genuinely fall to France, Brazil and Sweden (in patches), but the USA Women have looked as if they are struggling to find any fluency or cohesion as a unit. Let’s not make the mistake that they don’t have the quality of player in their squad to win the title this year, they do, especially with the likes of Carli Lloyd, Abby Waumbach, Lauren Cheney and Alex Morgan going forward. There is talent there, they are just not as good of a team as opponents which they have knocked out. There has to be some credit granted to them for that to start with. They have relied a lot on firing those long balls up front to the forwards, but there has not been a great deal of support from the midfield to be honest. That is where they have fallen down, and is an area in which they could struggle against the Japan Women. USA Women v Japan Women 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup final betting is perhaps a little tighter than you may think. The USA Women of course, have consistently been one of the elite forces in the game, they are still currently ranked the number one side in the world, they have made it to the semi finals of all Women’s World Cups, and now, after a couple of tournaments of disappointments at that stage, they are back to contest the major honour. What can they bring to the table? Well, they are a powerful side, and do carry an aerial threat, something which you think will come into play at set pieces against the smaller Japan Women side. However, the USA Women are not as good of a passing side as the Asians, and this is where the game may play out to a bit of parity.
The huge success story of the Japan Women football team keeps going on and on. They were actually favourites to win Group B (England’s group), but were beaten well by England in their final group match to end up in second place, which put them in a quarter final tie against host nation and favourites, Germany Women. The first really big surprise of the tournament came in that fixture, when the Japan Women held on, dug in deep when needed, cause some threats when they did manage to get their foot on the ball in the middle of the park after being camped in their own half for much of the first half, and then struck the deadly blow on a break away in extra time. That was a heroic performance by the underdogs and they didn’t stop there. It was Sweden Women next for them in the semi finals, a match in which they were underdogs again. The Swedish are a hugely powerful force when they start storming forward, but the Japan Women did such an excellent job of throwing the Europeans off their game, and after falling behind early on, not only did they claw their way back into the game, they looked the strongest for most of the match and ran out 3-1 winners. Now the Japan Women will be making their way to their first ever Women’s World Cup finals, and for the nation who have never even been crowed champions of Asia, this is some feat and just one more match stands between them and causing the biggest upset of all, by winning the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The qualities of the Japan Women side are their quick, sharp passing in triangles. They always seem to have a player free in space in the middle of the park, and outlet as to who to give the ball to. They are very quick, and while they are not the biggest built side, while they are one of the least experienced sides in the tournament, the Nadeshiko really have been one of the bright sparks. They will expect another physical encounter here, something which they had to deal with in part against Sweden Women, but they negated that by keeping the ball, and making their opponents chase shadows in the middle of the park. Then, when the Japan Women break, they are really deadly with their close control and their pace.
USA Women v Japan Women Women’s World Cup Final Betting
USA Women to win: Evens at Bet365
Draw: 5/2 at Bwin
Japan Women to win: 11/4 at Stan James
See full 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Results and Schedule here
USA Women v Japan Women Head to Head: There is a lot of history between the two sides, with twenty two meetings between them. Sadly for Japan, there have been 19 wins for the USA Women and three draws, with no wins for Japan Women. They have met twice in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with the USA Women winning both, scoring seven unanswered goals in those two matches.
USA Women v Japan Women Betting Tip: The Japan Women will have their opportunities to get in behind the USA defence, and you would expect to see the Asian’s have a lot of the ball in the middle of the park. That is an area in which they have been strong, and the USA Women weak. But the USA Women do have power in their long balls up front and they could out-muscle the Japan Women. If the Japan Women play at pace, then they can trouble the Americans, and having gone through just about every situation possible, from being bombarded by the German Women, to taking control of the Swedes, they look to have everything rounded off nicely to win this. It would be thoroughly deserving, and for the price, worth a punt as they just don’t give up. As for the Americans, they have shown fortitude and too have beaten teams they could easily have lost against. They just have that physical imposing presence to finish off those long balls. Should be evenly matched for their different styles, but the history of USA Women in this tournament, and their head to head record against Japan is hard to ignore, so would stick with them.
