Japan will need to strengthen some areas to win World Cup: Nielsen

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/japan/ltLyWcnC/"]Japan[/a] beat Women's Asian Cup hosts [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/YXMhvJho/"]Australia[/a] 1-0 in Saturday's final in Sydney to lift the trophy for the third time in four tournaments.[/p][p]Nielsen's side dazzled along the way, scoring 29 goals and conceding just one to lay down a marker ahead of next year's World Cup in Brazil.[/p][p]Japan are the only Asian team to have won the world title and Nielsen said they would need to keep improving if they want to do it again.[/p][p]"[b]We found some parts of ourselves that are really strong,[/b]" the Greenland-born coach said after returning to Tokyo.[/p][p]"There are also elements that we saw, we had some difficulty getting the final to be on our terms because of the opponent's strength.[/p][p]"[b]We will see that again at the World Cup, that means we need to find some different tools how to get the game to be the way we want it.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="0c18771f-ea26-4855-a4db-0ccd1f6112f0" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hZ0KJVXrXQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]Japan won the World Cup in 2011 and reached the final again four years later, losing to the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/KQv9BO32/"]United States[/a].[/p][p]They have not gone past the quarter-finals at either a World Cup or Olympics since.[/p][p]Nielsen's squad in Australia featured 16 England-based players including captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hasegawa-yui/AVtMip1J/"]Yui Hasegawa[/a] and forward [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamano-maika/WhWvduCL/"]Maika Hamano[/a], who scored a spectacular winner in the final.[/p][p]The coach said his team had "[b]grown a lot together already and that's not going to stop[/b]".[/p][p]"You need to grow more, you need to constantly be moving," said Nielsen.[/p][p]"[b]If you are satisfied and accept status quo, you're not going to be good enough in the end.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="27eebe91-0e8b-46f1-92a7-6bf202fb7e4a" url="https://x.com/football360au/status/2035461697071161614" social-type="twitter" /][p]Japan's win capped off a landmark tournament with more than 350,000 fans through the turnstiles, reinforcing the growth in popularity of women's football.[/p][p]This was around six times as many as the previous record set in 2010 in China, with the 74,397 fans at the Sydney final setting a new attendance mark for a single game in tournament history.[/p][p]There was palpably less excitement in Japan, with the final not being shown on terrestrial TV and a muted media reaction to the team's win.[/p][p]Nielsen urged Japanese media companies to provide more coverage, saying "[b]you will get your value back if you do because they are worth following[/b]".[/p][p]"We are not at the same place as they are in Europe and around the world," he said.[/p][p]"[b]We are competing with other sports that are very popular.[/b]"[/p]