Japan coach Norio Sasaki admitted the champions had not lived up to his expectations in Wednesday's 2-1 win over England, but said they still deserved to be in the Women's World Cup final for the second tournament in a row.
The Nadeshiko were pushed to the brink by an England team that had never been in the semifinals before, but a freak own goal in second-half stoppage time from defender Laura Bassett gave Japan the victory to set up a rematch of the 2011 final against the United States on Sunday in Vancouver.
"England were more mobile than I was expecting, and we struggled to cause them problems. We didn't play as well as I'd hoped," said Sasaki, whose team had not beaten England in their previous four meetings.