U.S., Brazil win women's soccer games; Nadeshiko Japan, Sweden draw 0-0

yawn, the beautiful game is a bore.

Was very impressed by all the natural blonds on Swed's team.. WOW

The ladies of Japan should have scored at least three goals. Next up South Africa in Cardiff on Tuesday. Ganbarre Nadeshiko!

Terrible game, neither team could pass accurately and the Japanese players were particularly lazy; waiting for passes to reach them rather than going for the ball and subsequently losing it every time. Sawa should have been substituted much earlier and if Sasaki san cannot get a better performance from them then he must be replaced. Too much complacency and really Sweden were no better.

spudmanJul. 28, 2012 - 10:15PM JST

yawn, the beautiful game is a bore.

Women's soccer is always slow and dull. Mens on the other hand, gets the blood pumping.

90 minutes I'll never get back! Here's hoping the level of performance in these Games picks up on that awful show - both teams were simply dreadful!

Man, that was seriously woeful.

Just me of have they lost that loving feeling? I think Japan might not be so happy during the medal count. I wish the women luck but drawing with Sweden???

The samurai spirit can defeat all!

The samurai spirit can defeat all!

Except Sweden, obviously.

Its is now reported that Sasaki san is "satisfied with the result"! He damned well shouldn't be and that says it all, the team needs a rocket and Sasaki san needs to be replaced.

Harry: I agree he shouldn't be satisfied, but people all too often blame a coach for a mediocre or poor showing, or praise the coach when the TEAM does well. You see this all the time with the men's team: Zacc is threatened when Japan does badly, but Okada was praised for the men doing well in the WC (when he himself admitted he did nothing special nor would he have been different had they lost).

Anyway, one interesting thing about women's soccer is how it's much more of a level playing field. It doesn't look like SA will make it out of the group, but between Canada, Japan, and Sweden it's hard to say which two will move on and which one left behind. Canada's got the goal advantage but are behind in overall points and play Sweden next. Japan can likely beat SA and move on.

tmarie, Sweden is ranked 4th in the world while Japan is 3rd. Pretty evenly matched, wouldn't you say?

Considering all the hype around them, I expected a win, not a draw. They were the ones to be 'afraid" of going in but I don't think that is going to last. They were "lucky" with that one up goal on Canada and Canada is 7th. I support the team but can't help but wonder if the pressure might be starting to get to them.

I'm a football lover but that was truly awful. Even those lovely Swedish girls couldn't stop me nodding off.

tmarie: I agree with some of what you say, but with the women it's all up and down... so to speak. Japan won the WC then lost to the teams they beat in it. I think letting the media get to them has played a SMALL part, but I think it's just as easy that the other teams simply bested them (or equalled them, with Sweden). Yeah, the second goal against Canada was an awful mistake on the goalkeeper's part (something not mentioned much in the media here), but them's the breaks.

My only 'fear', if you can call it that, is that if Japan doesn't make it much further people will stop being proud of the team and just clam up if you talk about soccer. I've heard so many times, "I hope they win for the sake of Japan" that if they lose I'm afraid people will be embarrassed to talk about how they really are a good team on the whole.

I agree - fickle fans. I've said it on here before. How many "fans" have actually watched the games? Not many I fear. I've watched and hope they do well but do think there is far too much pressure being placed on them. One reason why Sawa was MIA was because of the pressure. Never gets talks about though, does it?

tmarie: In this case if people aren't watching I'd say it's more because of the time difference and time of broadcast, but we see eye-to-eye on the fickle thing. I can't tell you how many people have stopped being Hanshin Tigers fans this year but would jump into the Dotombi River tomorrow if told they won the championship.

Back to soccer, though, I blame the media for a large part of said fickleness -- the athletes, more than usual, have more pressure heaped on them to do well because it's an international stage. Happens EVERY time, be it winter or summer. The JOC predicted some 10 golds in Vancouver and when there were none had to try and explain how SK could have gotten so many while Japan zero. Now it seems already a few have slipped through predictions fingers (ie. Uchimura), although at least they have three medals thusfar to talk about.

Anyway, there's still a good chance Japan will get through to the next round, and hopefully they do. They'll be all the fickle fans again, and people saying it's 'for Japan' and what not, but I wish the girls well.

LA cajun understands the appeal of women's soccer best.

The games aren't on that late so I don't think you can blame the time thing - people weren't watching before the Olympics either.

I 100% agree with you about the pressure. Is it any wonder people choke?