South Korea fell to Japan 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup here Thursday.

At National Stadium in the Japanese capital, midfielders Hanae Shibata grabbed a brace and Yoko Tanaka had another for the victorious host. Jeoun Eun-ha had the lone goal for South Korea.

With Japan holding on to a 2-1 lead, Tanaka scored her team-leading fifth goal of the tournament in the 37th minute for a two-goal cushion that Japan never relinquished.

In a match that was even more lopsided than the score indicates, Japan was craftier and more aggressive on offense, and was more physical on defense.

After a cautious start to the match, the teams traded all four goals in the first half, including three in the first 20 minutes.

In the eighth, Shibata capitalized on Shin Dam-yeong‘s botched attempt to intercept a slow pass, and beat the charging South Korean goalkeeper Jeon Ha-neul for an easy score.

South Korea pulled even seven minutes later, when Jeoun headed in her fourth goal of the tournament after Lee Geum-min set her up with a cross past two defenders.

But Shibata put Japan back up by one in the 19th, converting a Mina Tanaka pass and ringing it off the left post.

South Korea missed two chances to equalize at the half-hour mark. In a scramble following a corner, Choe Yu-ri had her hard shot denied by Sakiko Ikeda in net. Lee Geum-min’s header on the rebound was cleared near the goal line by defensive back Haruka Hamada.

Yoko Tanaka put the game further out of reach in the 37th. Hiraki Takagi charged in on the right wing and drew several SouthKoreans to herself, before finding a wide-open Tanaka in front of a gaping net.

Neither side had serious scoring chances in the second half, though South Korean captain Lee Young-ju in the 51st struck a loose ball from the top of the arc and sailed it wide of the left post.

South Korea remains winless against Japan at the U-20 level, with one draw and five losses.

South Korea had advanced to the quarters by finishing second in Group B with six points, one behind Nigeria. Japan topped Group A with seven points, scoring 10 goals in three group matches.

South Korea was lucky to be competing here at all.

It had initially come up short in the regional qualification last year, finishing fourth at Asia‘s U-19 Women’s Championship where the top three, Japan, North Korea and China, booked their tickets. But in February this year, South Korea grabbed an extra berth that was freed up in Asia, when Japan replaced Uzbekistan as the host and earned an automatic spot.

In the day‘s earlier quarterfinal match, Nigeria beat Mexico 1-0. In the semis, Nigeria will face the winner of the Friday quarterfinal showdown between North Korea and the U.S.

The latest grudge match between the regional rivals came amid their heightened diplomatic tensions over Dokdo, rocky South Korean outcroppings in the East Sea to which Japan has frequently laid claims.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea sent a diplomatic document to Japan to dismiss Tokyo’s latest proposal to take the sovereignty issue of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). SouthKorea has maintained that Dokdo is not a disputed territory legally, historically or geographically. Japan‘s proposal to have the ICJ deal with the Dokdo issue requires South Korean consent.

At the London Olympics earlier this month, the South Korean men’s team defeated Japan 2-0 for the bronze medal, the country‘s first Olympic football medal. The match was played just hours after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented trip to Dokdo.

In his post-game celebration, South Korean midfielder Park Jong-woo took a placard from a fan in the stands that read, in Korean, “Dokdo Is Our Territory.” He was subsequently barred from the medal ceremony, as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deemed his action political. He remains under investigation by the two organizations and has yet to collect his bronze medal.

The political backdrop to the match prompted FIFA, the international football governing body, to ask players on both teams to refrain from taking political action. (Yonhap News)