Homare Sawa

Homare Sawa
Sawa at the 2015 World Cup
Personnel
birthday	September 6, 1978
place of birth	Fuchū ,  Japan
size	165 cm
position	midfield
Women
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1991-1998	Yomiuri Beleza	136 (79)
1999	Denver Diamonds
2000-2003	Atlanta beat
2004-2009	NTV Beleza	64 (40)
2009-2010	Washington Freedom	30 0(6)
2011-2015	INAC Kobe Leonessa
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1993-2015	Japan	205 (83)
1 Only league games are given.

Homare Sawa ( Japanese 澤 穂 希 , Sawa Homare ; born September 6, 1978 in Fuchū , Tokyo Prefecture ) is a former Japanese soccer player . The midfielder was considered the best footballer in her country. In 2011 her selection led her to the world championship title for the first time and then received the awards for best player and top scorer of the tournament. In addition, she was voted World Player of the Year 2011. In 2012 she reached the final at the Olympic football tournament in London with Japan for the first time and, after a loss to the USA, the silver medal. At the 2015 World Cup , she was runner-up, also after losing to the USA. In December 2015, she announced the end of her career.

Club career

At the age of 12, Sawa made her debut in the Japanese women's league JLSL in 1991 . In her first season she scored five goals in 13 games for her club Yomiuri Beleza (later NTV Beleza ) and helped her team to win the title. Further championships followed in 1992 and 1993. In 1999 she moved to the American professional league WUSA , where she first played for Colorado Rush and Atlanta Beat . After WUSA was discontinued in 2003, Sawa returned to Beleza; There she was 2005-2008 four times in a row Japanese champions. In 2009 she went back to the United States to play for Washington Freedom .

National team

Sawa was appointed to the Japanese national soccer team for the first time at the age of 15. On December 6, 1993, she made her international debut and contributed four goals to the 15-0 victory of the Japanese over the Philippines. At the 1995 World Cup , she was part of the Japanese squad and reached the quarter-finals with her team. She also participated in the 1999 , 2003 , 2007 , 2011 and 2015 World Championships and the 1996 , 2004 , 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games .

The first title win with the team of Japan succeeded Sawa in the year 2008, when one could win the East Asian Championship taking place in China. In the same year Japan achieved fourth place at the Olympic Games in Beijing, its greatest success on the international stage up to the 2011 World Cup.

Homare Sawa at the 2011 World Cup

In 2011 she scored three goals against Mexico in the second round match at the World Cup ; she ensured her team advance ahead of schedule. In the final, she scored in the 117th minute of extra time with a spectacular heel hit to make it 2-2 against the USA team . In the subsequent penalty shootout, Japan prevailed 3-1 and became world champions for the first time. Sawa was the tournament's top scorer with five goals and was also awarded the gold trophy for best player of the tournament. In addition, as the captain of the Japanese team, she accepted the golden trophy for the fairest team and was named World Player of the Year 2011.

Sawa was also part of the Japanese squad for the London Olympics , making it the fourth time to take part in the Games. It was used in five out of six games, including a. in the final, lost 1: 2 against the USA , and won the silver medal with their team. After the final defeat, she announced her resignation from the national team.

On February 18, 2005, she played her 100th international match for Japan. In 2004 and 2008, Sawa was named Asia's Player of the Year. After 186 international matches and 81 international goals, Sawa announced on August 11, 2012 that she was going to end her career in the national team. On June 13, 2013, however, she was appointed and used for the game against New Zealand in June. Another appeal was made for the friendly against Nigeria on September 22, 2013, in which she was also used. It was also used at the 2014 Algarve Cup , where Japan reached the final, which was lost 3-0 to Germany.

In May 2014 she and her team won the Asian Cup for the first time , with Sawa beating China 1-0 in the semifinals. By reaching the semi-finals, Japan qualified for the 2015 World Cup, where the team wanted to defend their title.

She was not nominated for the Algarve Cup 2015 , in which Japan was only ninth. In May 2015, however, she was appointed to the squad for the 2015 World Cup and then led her team to a 1-0 win in the friendly against New Zealand with her 83rd international goal. On June 8, 2015, she was the first player to appear in six World Cup finals in the first group match against Switzerland. She also played her 200th international match as the third Asian . She was also used in five other games, but only played over 90 minutes in the last group game against Ecuador , when coach Norio Sasaki spared some regular players. In the final against the USA she was substituted on when the score was 1: 4 in the 33rd minute, although she was able to make the game a little more balanced, but not turn it around, so that Japan was only runner-up with a 2: 5. She had already announced that this would be her last World Cup, but that she would still like to take part in the Olympic Games in 2016. Japan was unable to qualify for this tournament .

With 205 internationals and 83 goals, she is both a record national player and a record scorer in the Japanese women's selection. Only 13 players played more international matches worldwide and only 17 players and two players scored more international goals. In total, she played 24 World Cup games and 17 games at the Olympic Games and scored 8 World Cup goals and 3 goals at the Olympic Games. In February 1999 she also played on the occasion of the group draw for the 1999 World Cup with a FIFA World Cup against the United States women's national soccer team . The game is not counted as an official international match.

successes

• Japanese champion 2005 to 2008
• East Asian Champion 2008 and 2010
• Gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou
• World champion at the 2011 women's soccer world championship in Germany
• Vice world champion at the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada
• Silver medal at the 2012 Summer Games in London
• Asian champion 2014

Awards

• 2004 and 2008: Asia's Player of the Year
• 2011: Golden Boot as top scorer in the World Cup
• 2011: Golden Ball as the best player in the World Cup
• 2011: FIFA Ballon d'Or (World Player of the Year)
• 2012: Nominated as Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Web links

Commons : Homare Sawa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homare Sawa in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Homare Sawa in the database of FIFA (English)
• Profile on the website of the Japanese Association (Japanese, as of June 16, 2011)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ fifa.com: "Sawa: The highlights of her glamorous career"
2. ↑ Lionel Messi voted “World Footballer of the Year” at focus.de, January 9, 2012 (accessed January 9, 2012).
3. ↑ ^{a b} Resignation of world soccer player Sawa from Japan
4. ↑ jfa.or: Nadeshiko Japan squad announced for New Zealand friendly
5. ↑ jfa.or: Match summary KIRIN CHALLENGE CUP WOMEN'S FRIENDLY
6. ↑ Squad for the game against Nigeria on September 22, 2012 (PDF; 87 kB)
7. ↑ Match report Japan - Nigeria 2-0
8. ↑ jfa.jp: "Sawa boosts Nadeshiko Japan to victory over New Zealand"
9. ↑ fifa.com: "Celia, Abby, Homare, Lotta and Marta - they are all there!"
10. ↑ fifa.com: "Sawa:" The last World Cup of my career ""
11. ↑ ussoccer.com: "FIFA World Stars Defeat US Women's National Team, 2-1, at 1999 Women's World Cup Final Draw"