Tokyo, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- In the final round of the third stage of the women's football Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics at the New National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, the Japanese team defeated the North Korean team 2-1 and qualified for the Paris Olympics.
The first leg was at a neutral venue, and the two sides drew a 0:0 draw. In the second leg, the Japanese women's football team, currently ranked eighth in the world, will host the world's ninth-ranked North Korean women's football team, and the winner will directly qualify for the Paris Olympics.
In the 25th minute, Japan took advantage of a free kick in front of the court to break the deadlock, Tanaka Minami's header was saved by the North Korean goalkeeper, but the ball hit the crossbar and was scored by Takahashi Hana, and Japan took a 1-0 lead.
In the 76th minute, Japan made a cross from the bottom and Aoba Fujino scored with a header to extend the lead to two goals. Five minutes later, North Korea's Kim Kyung-young burst into the penalty area after receiving a teammate's through ball and scored a goal back with a clever prolific shot past the Japanese goal. After that, the North Korean team failed to score, and the score was fixed at 2:1.
In the third stage of the women's football Asian qualifiers for the Paris Olympics, the Australian women's football team defeated Uzbekistan 10-0 at home and 13-0 over two legs, and also qualified for the Paris Olympics. (ENDS).