South Korea edged Japan 1-0 in the Asian Women's Championship's third-place deciding match in Bangkok on Saturday and secured a berth for this fall's World Cup in the United States.
But Japan still has a chance to book a place in the World Cup, which will get under way Sept. 20, when it takes on Mexico, which finished third in the North and Central America-Caribbean Island competition.
The winner there will get a berth. At Rajamangala Stadium, Japan took the match to South Korea from the start but failed to put passes together at crucial junctures, and let South Korea capitalize on sloppy defending in the first half.