Japan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympics women's soccer tournament for the first time Saturday, despite going down 1-0 to Nigeria in their Group E clash at the Athens Games.
Eiji Ueda's side was unable to reproduce the heroics which saw it beat European powerhouse Sweden 1-0 in their opening game on Thursday and was sunk by a 55th-minute goal from Vera Okolo.
The three points picked up against the Swedes, however, proved to be enough to see Japan into the last eight as it guaranteed it a better record than the third-place team in Group F.
Asian rival China, which lost 8-0 to Germany in their opening match, could only manage a 1-1 draw with Mexico in a game being played at the same time, and finished with just one point from two games in Group F.