🏏 Fri, 2 Oct 2026 19:30 JST
北朝鮮女子代表
vs
Japan Women
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- The Asian Games women's tournament comes down to the final, and for Japan it is a sixth match in 19 days, every one of them at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa — three group games, the quarter-final, the semi-final against South Korea on 29 September and now this. Kick-off is 19:30 local time, with Japan listed as the away side despite playing on home soil.
- Four players start again: No. 7 M. Hamada, No. 10 Y. Narumiya, No. 11 C. Kamiya and No. 15 J. Ito have been named in every line-up on record at this tournament — Thailand on 14 September, Vietnam on the 17th, Chinese Taipei on the 21st, the Philippines on the 25th, and the final. In a squad rotated relentlessly from game to game, they are the only constants, and Japan's circulation still runs through them.
- No. 23 S. Ohba keeps the gloves. Japan gave each of their three goalkeepers a group match — Ohba against Thailand, No. 1 N. Asano against Vietnam, No. 12 S. Fukuda against Chinese Taipei — but since the quarter-final the job has been Ohba's alone. Asano and Fukuda both begin on the bench again, which settles a pecking order that was deliberately left open for three weeks.
- No. 3 S. Ohashi makes her first start of the tournament. She has been an unused name on the bench since the Vietnam game on 17 September, taking in the Chinese Taipei match and the quarter-final from there, and her first start arrives in a final. Alongside her, No. 6 Y. Funa starts for the first time since the 14 September opener, 18 days earlier; the two have never started together before.
- There are notable omissions from the quarter-final eleven. No. 17 S. Takarada, who had started three in a row against Vietnam, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines, drops to the bench, as do No. 5 Y. Seno and No. 8 K. Sakakibara. In come No. 13 A. Kuwahara and No. 22 Y. Nakashima, with No. 14 Y. Shiokoshi continuing a run of starts that began against Vietnam.
- Of the 23 players listed, only No. 16 N. Ikuta and No. 21 H. Nishio have yet to start any of the five matches for which line-ups are recorded; the other 21 have all been given a first eleven. With only two or three days between fixtures throughout, Japan have leaned on the full squad, and the selection for the final shows which combination the staff trust most.
- Korea DPR, coached by Song-Ho Ri, field No. 18 Yu Son-Gum, No. 2 Ri Myong-Gum, No. 23 Ri Hye-Gyong, No. 3 Ri Kum-Hyang, No. 14 Hwang Yu-Yong, No. 20 Chae Un-Yong, No. 6 An Pok-Yong, No. 7 Myong Yu-Jong, No. 13 Jon Ryong-Jong, No. 11 Han Jin-Hong and No. 17 Kim Kyong-Yong, with a further 12 on the bench including No. 1 Pak Ju-Mi, No. 10 Kum Jong and No. 8 Ri Song-A.
- This is also new territory for Japan in 2026. Their calendar this year has run from six matches at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in March, through the April trip to the United States and two June meetings with South Africa, to five games at these Asian Games — and Korea DPR appear nowhere on it. Both sides arrive at a title match with no recent reference point against each other.
- Japan's route here closely mirrors their March campaign: Chinese Taipei and Vietnam in the group, the Philippines in the quarter-final, South Korea in the semi-final — the same sequence they followed at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia between 4 and 21 March. The personnel are the story, though. Yui Hasegawa, Saki Kumagai and Hinata Miyazawa started that campaign and none of them are in this squad; a different tier of the player pool reaches a final instead.