Japan’s women’s national soccer team won the gold medal on penalties after drawing 2-2 with North Korea through extra time in the Asian Games final.
North Korea turned the match around in the second half but conceded an equalizer just before the end, and one blocked shot in the final shootout determined the result.
How did the flow of this final, which cannot be captured by the penalty score alone, unfold?
3-Line Summary
1. Japan won 5-3 on penalties
2. North Korea’s third kick was saved
3. Japan achieved three consecutive women’s soccer titles
An Equalizer in the 85th Minute After a Second-Half Comeback
Japan defeated North Korea 5-3 on penalties in the women’s soccer final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on October 2 at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Shizuoka, Japan. The match score, including regulation time and extra time, was 2-2.
Japan took the lead with Mami Ueno’s goal in the 32nd minute. North Korea leveled the match with a goal by Jong Kum in the 2nd minute of the second half, then completed a 2-1 comeback with a goal by Jon Ryong Jong in the 24th minute of the second half. It was a moment when the momentum for the gold medal appeared to be shifting toward North Korea.
However, Japan made it 2-2 again with a goal by Hanon Nishio in the 41st minute of the second half. No additional goal was scored in extra time, so the gold-medal winner had to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Japan Scored All Five; North Korea Had One Saved
North Korea substituted its goalkeeper just before the end of extra time in preparation for the penalty shootout. In the shootout, however, all five of Japan’s kickers scored. Japan goalkeeper Shu Oba saved the shot by North Korea’s third kicker, Jong Kum.
This moment, after both teams had converted their first two kicks, created the difference in the score. Japan converted through its final kicker to confirm a 5-3 victory. The penalty shootout separated the result of a closely contested match that had continued through extra time by a single save and the conversion rate.
North Korea earned the silver medal after coming back following the opening goal but failing to protect its late lead. Japan, by contrast, took the match into extra time with an equalizer and then remained steady in the penalty shootout.
Japan’s Three-Peat and Fourth Title Overall
With this victory, Japan achieved three consecutive Asian Games women’s soccer titles, following the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and the 2022 Hangzhou Games. This was the first three-peat in the history of the event, and Japan’s total number of titles became four.
North Korea sought to reclaim the gold medal 12 years after the 2014 Incheon Games, but its run stopped in the final. In the women’s soccer medals at these Games, Japan won gold, North Korea won silver, and South Korea won bronze.
The decisive numbers in the final were not 2-2 but 5-3 on penalties. The equalizer just before the end and the save on the third kick changed the color of the medal in a single match.
References
Tags #PenaltyShootout #JapanWomensSoccer #NorthKoreaWomensSoccer #AsianGames #AichiNagoyaAsianGames #WomensSoccerFinal #JapanWins #NorthKoreaSilver #ShizuokaStadiumEcopa #ShuOba #JongKum #HanonNishio