WELLINGTON: Japan moved into the FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinals here on Saturday, beating Norway 3-1 for their fourth straight win at the tournament.
Ingrid Syrstad Engen's own goal put Japan ahead in the 15th minute, but Guro Reiten leveled for Norway five minutes later.
In the second half, Risa Shimizu's goal saw Japan take the lead in the 50th minute, before Hinata Miyazawa scored her fifth goal of the tournament, Xinhua reported.
"There is still a long way to go, but after I felt frustrated in 2019, I feel like I've overcome an obstacle. We'll head to the next one, but I feel like we got a really great victory today," said Shimizu.
"In the knockout round there are tighter matches. We shared the feeling that we should display what we can do well and play in an aggressive way," Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda said afterwards.
Japan will now face either the United States or Sweden in the quarterfinals on Friday.