• Japan beat France to reach semi-finals

• Brazil await in the last four

• The Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto hosts its last match of the tournament

The venue for 14 matches in 12 days at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022™, the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela saved the very best till last as Japan and France served up a six-goal, quarter-final thriller.

It was a game that had everything, including an equaliser five minutes from the end of normal time and another one in the last minute of extra-time, which took the score to 3-3 and meant a penalty shootout.

At the end of the most spectacular of closing nights, it was defending champions Japan who won through from the spot to take their place in the last four, where they will meet Brazil, who are looking to reach the final for the first time. Young Nadeshiko were indebted to their keeper Shu Ohba, who crucially kept out France’s first penalty, taken by Bleuettes skipper Laurina Fazer, to set her side up for victory. Ohba is the only player in the Japan squad who plays her football abroad, for East Tennessee State University in the USA. Somewhat shy in front of the microphone, she is anything but between the posts and has plenty of experience of saving spot-kicks in Japan. As she explained, her instincts served her well on the day: “I hadn’t studied the opposition today but I just felt I needed to go left and I saved it. I’m so happy I did.”

Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda was a relieved man at the end of it all. Megane Hoeltzel’s low drive ten minutes from the end of extra-time looked to have sealed his side’s fate, only for Aoba Fujino’s late, late penalty to revive their fortunes.

Reacting to Ohba’s dramatic intervention in the shootout, Ikeda said, “It’s the result of some fantastic training sessions that the three keepers have had with our goalkeeping coach.” And so Japan march on. For the third FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in a row, they will be involved right to the very end of the tournament.

10 - Sunday’s penalty shootout was the tenth in the competition’s history. It was Japan’s first and France’s second, their first having come against Korea Republic in the quarter-finals at Canada 2014, which they won to advance to the semis. 4 - Japan have now won their last four U-20 Women’s World Cup quarter-finals. Their last exit at this stage of the competition came at Chile 2008.