Swedes undone by rampant Japan

Sweden proved incapable of coping with an impressive Japan who booked their place in the women's World Cup final against the United States with a emphatic 3-1 victor in Wednesday's semi-final.

• Sweden in goalless draw against Ireland (23 Mar 13)
• Vattenfall in nuclear spat with Germany (22 Dec 12)
• Ikea admits using East German prison labour (16 Nov 12)

Despite their nickname Nadeshiko -- a pink flower symbolising grace andbeauty -- the Japanese are proving no pushovers at Germany 2011 and having beaten the hosts 1-0 in the quarter-final, they dominated Sweden in the semi.

"In Japan, it is early in the morning, but nevertheless there were a lot of people watching back home, which gave us strength and courage," said coach Norio Sasaki.

"We wanted to give them some strength and courage back and we want to do the same thing in the final.

"The players can be very proud of what they have achieved."

Japan are in a World Cup final for the first time in their history as striker Nahomi Kawasumi netted goals either side of half-time while captain Homare Sawa capped another impressive display with her fourth goal in five games.

"As everyone saw, the Japanese were the better team," admitted Sweden coach
Thomas Dennerby.

"It was really just the first 30 minutes that we were in the game. It was a tough match for us."

There was no hint of the Japanese domination to come when Sweden striker Josefine Öqvist opened the scoring when she drilled home her shot after 10 minutes past Japan goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori.

Her strike took a deflection off the boot of Japan defender Saki Kumagai, which lifted the ball out of Kaihori's reach, but the Asians were level soon after having noticeably raised their game in front of the 45,434 crowd.

Midfielder Aya Miyama drilled in a cross and Kawasumi wove her way through several Swedish defenders to scramble the ball home on 19 minutes.

Japan finished the first half with 62 percent of ball possesion and never relinquished their strangehold over the Swedes.

They dominated the first-half -- managing six shots on goal, with three on target, compared to Sweden's one of each -- and nearly scored in the opening minute of the second-half.

Right wing Shinobu Ohno unleashed a long-range shot from well outside the penalty area, which beat Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, but clipped the crossbar as it went out.

With Sweden failing to put any consistent pressure on the Japan goal, the Nadeshiko put the game beyond their reach with two goals in four minutes.

Sawa, one of the stars of this tournament, headed home after a goal-mouth scramble on the hour mark, her fourth in five games here.

With the Swedish defence all at sea, the Japanese capitalised when midfielder Kozue Ando forced Hedvig into a hasty clearance kick and Kawasumi scored her second of the game when she lobbed her shot into an empty goal from 40 yards on 64 minutes.

It was no more than Japan deserved having dominated the game, nullifying Sweden's attack into just four shots on goal all game compared to the Japanese's 14.

In Sunday's final in Frankfurt, Japan will face the Stars and Stripes following their 3-1 win over France earlier in Moenchengladbach.