Japan mangle Spain to win Group C as Zambia salvage pride at women's World Cup

Hinata Miyazawa scored twice as Japan humiliated Spain 4-0 at the women's World Cup on Monday to book a last-16 clash with the Group A runners-up Norway.

Spain dominated the early possession in the game for Group C supremacy but they were caught on the counter in the 12th minute.

Miyazawa outpaced defenders Irene Hernandez and Rocio Galvez as she ran onto Jun Endo's pass from the left and she slotted the ball slickly into the bottom left hand corner past Spain goalkeeper Maria Rodriguez.

On the half hour mark, Miyazawa turned provider when she set up strike partner Riko Ueki whose shot took a huge deflection off Hernandez to loop over Rodriguez.

Ueki returned the favour just before half-time. Surging towards goal, she passed to Miyazawa on her right who fired the ball high into the top left hand corner.

There was no response from Spain. Japan's fourth came eight minutes from time after Mina Tanaka tricked her way down the right wing cut into the penalty area and thrashed the ball into the top left hand corner.

Defence

"We had to defend for a long time," said Miyazawa, who was deemed player-of-the match.

"But everyone held out and it was good that in the end we could finish the game with a win and with our smiles."

The only upside for Spain – who will take on the Group A winners Switzerland – was that they had already booked their passage for the last-16 following wins over Zambia and Costa Rica.

Those sides played for pride at the Waikato Stadium and the Africans – semi-finalists at last year's Africa Cup of Nations – won the battle of the also-rans.

Lushomo Mweemba scored the country's first goal at World Cup in the third minute and star striker Barbara Banda doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after 31 minutes.

Just after the pause Melissa Herrera halved the deficit. But Racheal Kundananji scored in the closing stages to secure Zambia's first points at their first World Cup.

"Even though we had lost our other games, we wanted to continue fighting," said Kundananji.

"We lost both of those games 5-0 and here we are scoring three times. It's a happy ending for us because we have won the last match and we finish third in the group which is OK.

"Next time when we come, we'll have more experience and we'll know what to expect."

Additional reporting Marco Martins