SYDNEY: A clinical Japan swept past South Korea 4-1 on Wednesday to set up a Women’s Asian Cup final against hosts Australia, with the two-time champions putting on a masterclass.

West Ham’s Riko Ueki and Tottenham’s Maika Hamano scored in the first half in Sydney with veteran Saki Kumagai and Remina Chiba adding to the tally after the break.

They had three more goals disallowed.

It was a dominant display by Nils Nielsen’s world-number-eight team and a warning shot to the Matildas.

Japan meet Australia in the final at the same stadium on Saturday after Sam Kerr scored the winner in the hosts’ 2-1 semi-final win over defending champions China on Tuesday.

While Australia have had to fight hard to reach the final, it has been a far easier ride for Japan.

They have bagged 28 goals in their five games so far and conceded just one.

“Very proud of them today,” said Nielsen, a former Denmark and Switzerland coach. “It’s not easy to just switch and play a team that has much more to give and make it look easy. And they actually did it, theymade this game look fairly comfortable and easy for us.

“But it wasn’t because South Korea is a great opponent. Please don’t tell Australia, but we have played better than we did today,” he added.

“We needed to find more. We needed to find a gear more. We did OK.”

It was always going to be a big ask for South Korea against a side they have not beaten in over a decade and who are ranked 13 places higher.

Japan, who made seven changes from their quarter-final line-up, were unrelenting and should have been 1-0 up after seven minutes.

But Manchester City midfielder Yui Hasegawa fluffed a sitter, slicing her shot wide in front of an open goal.

With the match played almost exclusively in the South Korean half, a breakthrough was inevitable and it came from Ueki in the 15th minute.

Liverpool’s Fuka Nagano won the ball in the box and offloaded it to her teammate who calmly side footed home — her sixth goal of the tournament.

Japan kept the pressure on and doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Hamano darted into the box from the right and slammed in from an acute angle at the near post.

She was overcome with emotion and tears streamed down her face.

Japan had two more goals disallowed, for offside and handball, before the break as South Korea clung on.

It was more of the same when they returned, with the Koreans barely getting a look-in.

A Ueki effort clattered off the crossbar before the third goal finally arrived from Kumagai with a forceful header on 75 minutes.

Against the run of play, Kang Chae-rim pulled one back for South Korea before Chiba’s powerful drive minutes later sealed a dominant win, with a third goal disallowed for offside close to the finish.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2026