The Asako Takakura era has gotten off to a strong start.

The Japanese Women's National Team traveled to Colorado to take on the reigning FIFA Women's World Cup champions United States in the first of two friendly matches between the rivals. The game was was the first since Takakura was hired as Nadeshiko Japan's head coach.

Japan, the underdogs playing in front of a hostile crowd, got off to a quick start, thanks to a goal by Mana Iwabuchi in the 14th minute. Iwabuchi cut throuh two defenders and was able to put the ball over the hands of goalkeeper Hope Solo. It was an excellent goal by Iwabuchi, as the Japanese team didn't yet seem set up to attack.

Nadeshiko took a 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute after Emi Nakajima delivered a perfect pass to Yuki Ogimi, who was able to slide the ball past Solo. The USWNT's defense looked to be in disaray early in the contest.

USWNT Battles Back

The United States began to play more aggressively after being stunned early in the game, and it paid off in the 27th minute, when Mallory Pugh passed the ball to Alex Morgan, who was able to get past Nadeshiko's defense. When goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita misplayed the ball, Morgan had no problem finding the back of the net. Still, Nadeshiko's defense would stand tall, and the US would enter halftime trailing Japan 2-1.

Things would begin to fall apart for Japan, as Ogimi would be hit with a second yellow card, sending her off the pitch in the 57th minute. The United States would take advantage and tie it up in the 64th minute, when Tobin Heath, off a free kick, would feed the ball perfectly to Morgan, who headed it into the goal.

The United States would score what appeared to be a winning goal in the 89th minute, when Kelley O'Hara would find Lindsey Horan, who would head the ball past the Yamashita and give the home team the lead.

Japan Stuns US Late

Japan appeared to be worn out at the end of the game, playing with 10 players and having just given up three unanswered goals. Two minutes into stoppage time, however, Nadeshiko found some life, Kumi Yokoyama was able to get past Solo and tie the game with seconds remaining in the contest.

Both teams can take a lot of positives, as well as a lot of negatives, out of their game last night. For the United States, they should feel good that they were able to battle back from being two goals down, and was able to really control the pace for most of the game. Still, they have to feel let down that they gave up two goals so quickly in the game, as well as the fact that they were unable to put away Nadeshiko, who were down a player at the end of the game.

For Japan, they should feel great that they were able to walk away with a draw instead of a loss, as it appeared they would be beaten late in the game; however, they had a strong 2-0 lead, and watch the United States score three unanswered against them. For Takakura, "moral victories" won't cut it.

“We managed to control the game with a couple of nice goals early on, but we conceded from our mistakes which was a waste,” Takakura said. “I thought we should have won it."

“Even when we went down to 10, we didn’t try to sit back. We didn’t change anything. We persevered and held up throughout the contest. Considering that we didn’t have a whole lot of time to practice, we did well, but we need to make some adjustments for the second game.”

Iwabuchi agreed with her manager.

“We wanted to win but we’ll try to take this 3-3 draw positively,” Iwabuchi said. “We scored three today, which is good, but we also need to think about why we conceded three.”

Similar statements were echoed from the other side, as Horan, a Colorado native, was hoping for a win in front of friends and family.

“It’s awesome. You want to come into the game and impact it,” Horan said, in regards to the goal she scored. “For the team it was a great goal, but in the grand scheme of things we tied.”

The two teams will play each other again on June 5th in Cleveland, Ohio.