Women’s Football Tokyo 2020: White strikes again as Team GB secure place in knockout stages

Ellen White’s third goal in just two games was enough to see Team GB edge out hosts Japan and secure their place in the knockout stages at the Olympics.

With just over 15 minutes to play, White demonstrated the predatory instincts that have seen her become one of the most feared goalscorers in the women’s game.

White capitalized on an error by Japanese goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita, who attempted to claim Lucy Bronze’s cross from the right-hand side, but instead collided with Emi Nakajima.

The Manchester City striker then directed her header into what was an empty net to break the deadlock and provide a moment of inspiration that Head Coach Hege Risse would have been crying out for.

In an otherwise dull affair, Lauren Hemp was GB’s main threat throughout the opening 45 minutes with her two tame headers the closest Riise’s side came to scoring.

Japan meanwhile, played with pride and relished the opportunity to represent their nation during a home Olympics, a feeling that their counterparts would recognise from the 2012 games.

Asako Takakura would have been impressed with the threat that her side presented during the first half, Mina Tanaka came closest with an effort from just outside of the penalty area.

Though the absence of star forward Mana Iwabuchi undoubtedly hampered the hosts’ chances of finding a way past Ellie Roebuck.

Takakura opted to bench Iwabuchi despite the newly-signed Arsenal forward scoring in her side’s 1-1 draw against Canada last time out.

Riise made changes of her own too. Millie Bright and Rachel Daly were replaced by Leah Williamson and Demi Stokes in defence, whilst Sophie Ingle and Nikita Parris came in for Caroline Weir and Georgia Stanway.

Steph Houghton wasted the only meaningful opportunity of the second-half prior to White’s goal, with the England skipper slicing a volley off target.

Then came the deciding moment which was met with wild celebrations by the GB players and management. Having failed to perform well, a confirmed place in the next round will come as a relief to Riise and her team.

Weir went close with a long-range free-kick in the final minute of the game, after replacing Ingle on the hour mark, but by then the result was never in doubt.

GB managed to navigate the closing stages with ease, as Roebuck claimed her second consecutive clean sheet of the tournament.

Riise admitted that she was happy with the qualification but also acknowledged that GB lacked when going forward.

“We are all happy with two wins now. It puts us in a good position, able to rest players and recover well. We are very happy.

“Of course attacking-wise we lacked a little more. But we knew that could happen. I feel like the connection has got better and better each game and that’s what we need to get used to.

“That will be during the tournament as well. In the second half we changed the formation a little. We came out well and controlled the game much better.”

Former GB international Casey Stoney also claimed that improvement is needed as the competition progresses.

“Team GB will want to play better and they will need to as the tournament progresses.

But in tournaments you need to win and they’ve got three points on the board, six points in total and they are through to the quarter-finals. That is the main thing.”

Japan’s fate now lies in the hands of others. They will hope GB beat Canada in the final round of fixtures whilst needing to beat Colombia in order to secure qualification.

Bev Priestman has guided Canada to four points from two games so far, and she will be confident of securing a result against Team GB having been assistant to Phil Neville during his England tenure.

Whether Riise will make changes is yet to be seen, however, she will be keen on securing a win to top the group.

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