Japan is the defending Women's World Cup champion for a reason, y'all.
Never has the Nadeshiko's all-for-one skill and saavy been better displayed than it was on Tuesday night, when Japan scored the most beautiful goal of the 2015 Women's World Cup so far.
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The combination play inside the penalty area that put Japan up 2-0 on Holland (they won the match 2-1) was nothing short of breathtaking. The subtle brilliance here benefits from repeat viewings: In the video above, watch as a back-heel pass leads to the assist that leads to the Mizuho Sakaguchi goal that benefitted greatly from an expert-level dummy (fake touch) by Mana Iwabuchi.
See the befuddled clump of Dutch defenders chasing the ball en masse as Japan expertly works for the shot it wants? That's because you rarely see this kind of patience in the penalty area from any team -- male, female, club or international. Just this sort of team-first skill helped the Japanese lift the Women's World Cup trophy in 2011 and makes them a real threat to repeat this summer.
Japan's win over the Netherlands in the knockout round-of-16 sets up a quarterfinals date against Australia on June 27. Now here's another look at that goal, in case you want to watch it over and over and over again.
While nothing beats Japan's masterful work on Tuesday for overall beauty and brilliance, the thunderous strike below from England's Lucy Bronze on Monday may have been the tournament's top individual goal so far.
The USA meanwhile, has some major work to do.
BONUS: USWNT stars on representing their country