Homare Sawa: The Near-Post Run That Kept Japan Alive

Japan were behind against the United States late in extra time of the 2011 Women’s World Cup final when Homare Sawa met an Aya Miyama corner. Her flick, which took a deflection, brought Japan level in the 117th minute. Japan went on to win the penalty shootout.

The finish is extraordinary. The attacking problem behind it is easy to understand: how do you make a corner dangerous when a straightforward aerial contest may favor the defense?

A different route to the delivery

In FIFA’s account of the goal, Sawa explains that Japan targeted the near post because of the American players’ height. She also describes initially hoping to redirect the ball toward a teammate.

That detail matters. The outcome was a goal, but we should not rewrite the intention as a perfectly planned finish. The movement created an opportunity, and the contact produced a result that neither a static diagram nor a prediction could fully capture.

For a viewer, the useful lesson is how the attack changed the type of contest. A delivery can ask players to compete for height, speed, position, or a quick redirection. Those are not the same challenge.

The midfielder arriving in the scoring area

A midfielder can influence an attack by supplying a pass or by becoming its receiver. Sawa’s goal offers an example of the latter: reaching the delivery at the moment the team needed another attacking presence.

Following the runner instead of the ball helps make this contribution visible. Where does the movement begin? When does the defender notice? How much room remains when the ball reaches the target?

Our Formiga profile looks at support behind the attack. Sawa provides a complementary view of midfield work through an arrival at its end.

A final with more than one turning point

The late goal kept the contest alive; it did not remove the work still required in the shootout. Remembering that sequence preserves the team’s part in a moment often reduced to one player and one replay.

It also explains why context matters when recalling a finish. The score, the remaining time, and what followed gave Sawa’s contact its significance. Read what makes a football match remembered for more on how individual moments become shared football history.