An Eriko Arakawa goal three minutes into stoppage time gave Japan a 3-2 victory over regional giants North Korea in the opener of the East Asian Women's Football Championship yesterday.
Arakawa trapped a throw-in from the right touchline before looping a 30m shot over goalkeeper Han Hye-yong and into the far-side corner of the net in the dying seconds of the game.
The last-gasp win avenged Japan's 1-0 loss to North Korea in the opener of the last East Asian Championship, in 2005, which was won by South Korea.
South Korea and hosts China were to clash later yesterday.
Japan took the lead after Kozue Ando knocked in a header from a long ball by Aya Miyama on three minutes.
North Korean striker Ri Kum-suk pulled one back in the 38th minute, heading home a cross from the right after Japanese goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto had fumbled.
Ri, who was named Asian Player of the Year after leading North Korea to the World Cup quarter-finals in China last September, sank a right-footer from inside the box four minutes after the break but it was ruled off-side.
North Korea did go ahead when Ri Un-gyong blasted a 25m screamer past Fukumoto on the hour mark.
But Miyama scored in the 82nd minute to bring the game back level, before Arakawa's unlikely late winner.
It was a big boost ahead of the August Olympics for Japan, who failed to go beyond the World Cup group stage for the third-straight time last year.
Japan faced an unfriendly Chinese crowd in drawing 1-1 with North Korea on the opening day of the East Asian Football Championship on Sunday.
Japan, Asia's No. 1 team, came under constant attack from Jong Tae-se, a Japan-born ethnic North Korean who plays for J-League Kawasaki Frontale.
He opened the scoring in the sixth minute and was a constant threat. But Ryoichi Maeda equalized in the 69th minute and saved Japan from a repeat of the nightmare in which they lost to North Korea 1-0 in the opener of the 2005 East Asian Cup.
Takeshi Okada, who began his second stint as Japan's national coach in November after his predecessor Bosnian Ivica Bosim suffered a stroke, said his squad lacked experience.
He missed Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura as well as three top domestic strikers, including former Frankfurt frontman Naohiro Takahara, who were injured or in poor form.
"It was a difficult match but our players came back to take risks and make chances," he said.
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