In Focus: Magical Miyazawa hitting new heights for Japan

Hinata Miyazawa has emerged as a dark horse for the Golden Boot after lighting up the World Cup with Japan.

The forward took the lead in the race to become the top goalscorer after her brace in the 4-0 humbling of Spain saw Japan top their group. 

She has been influential throughout the tournament and will hope to carry her stellar form into the knockout stages. 

Norway will surely be dreading the prospect of facing Miyazawa ahead of tomorrow's last-16 clash.

Golden Boot contender

Despite playing just 166 minutes across three appearances, Miyazawa has found the net on four occasions Down Under.

That works out to a truly astonishing average of a goal every 41.5 minutes for the 23-year-old.

Furthermore, her four strikes have come from just five shots on target and eight efforts overall — a remarkable conversion rate.

High-quality finisher

Miyazawa has demonstrated an ability to score with either foot, netting twice with her right and twice with her left. 

Additionally, she has posted an xG of just two, evidence of her capacity to find the net from difficult positions, although the level of her overperformance may be unsustainable over a longer period.

Speed on the break

Japan manager Futoshi Ikeda opted for a counter-attacking approach which worked wonders against a Spain side that look to dominate the ball. 

He said: "The Spanish team, with that kind of offence, we decided to respond with a compact defence. 

"Once we recovered the ball, we tried to attack to the maximum at speed." 

Recording just 22% possession by no means hampered Miyazawa, who netted her second brace of the tournament to warn future opponents that she will punish them if given space to run into.

Varied approaches

Japan took a very different approach in their victories over Zambia and Costa Rica, dominating possession themselves en route to 5-0 and 2-0 wins respectively.

Ikeda added: "In the first and second games, we had more time to work with the ball but had to be wary of the counter-attack." 

Miyazawa’s brace against Zambia suggests she will be able to thrive regardless of how Japan choose to tackle next opponents Norway, who have seen plenty of the ball themselves at the World Cup so far.

Creative spark

Miyazawa's hot streak in front of goal is made even more impressive by the fact that the 26-cap international has still managed to act as a provider for her team-mates. 

She has picked up one assist to add to her four strikes, as well as completing five passes into the penalty area. 

Japan have yet to concede a goal and have produced 11 of their own, with their star forward thriving as a key cog in a well-oiled machine. 

If Miyazawa continues to perform to her magical best, Japan could well be contenders to win their second World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.