SAN DIEGO — Toko Koga scored early in the second half, and Japan handed the U.S. women’s national soccer team its first loss under coach Emma Hayes with a 2-1 victory Wednesday night to clinch the title in the SheBelieves Cup.
The Americans had not lost since last February, when they fell 2-0 to Mexico in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. The loss also snapped the U.S. team’s string of five titles in the SheBelieves Cup, a four-team round-robin event now in its 10th year that the host Americans have won seven times.
Japan joined France (2017) and England (2019) as the only teams outside of the U.S. to win the tournament, which uses a point system from match play to determine the champion. Japan and the U.S. were both undefeated in this year’s round robin heading into the final match at Snapdragon Stadium, making it a de facto title showdown.
“Of course we want to win. No one wants to lose these things,” Hayes said. “But we didn’t put out our most experienced team. We put out a team we’re hoping to develop, and our goals go beyond just the SheBelieves.”
The U.S. had been unbeaten in its past 14 meetings with Japan. The Americans’ most recent loss to Japan had been in 2012.