Day 4 review: By Sam Harris / For IBSA

Men’s

It was a second straight win to end the group stage for the USA as they beat Iran 14-7 thanks to Calahan Young’s six-goal haul and hat-tricks from Christian King and Matt Simpson.

The attacking talents of their main starting trio is evident with all but three of their 27 goals being contributed by Young (13), Tyler Merren (six) and King (five) and they will need big contributions again when they play Japan in the quarter-finals.

Matt Simpson joined the trio on the scoresheet in Paris with his treble and is the elder statesman at 34-years-old: ‘The guys give me a hard time, saying they don’t think I have it anymore but I like to show them once in a while that the old guy can still move pretty quick!’

Iran will face Ukraine in the last-eight with this defeat consigning them to a third-place finish.

In a meeting of the two sides in pool B without a point to their name, it was Japan who grabbed their first win of the Games by beating Egypt 11-1 in the men’s first mercy score of the competition to set up a quarter-final clash with the USA.

For Rikiya Kudo’s side, it was a first Paralympic win since beating the USA in the same circumstances at this stage in Tokyo with Koji Miyakiki taking his competition tally to 12 with four second-half goals.

Haruki Torii, who also found the net but was not part of the squad in Tokyo, said it was a perfect performance: ‘We were able to do everything we wanted so it went very well. Competing at the Paralympics is everything I dreamt of.’

China topped their group by winning their final game against Ukraine 6-1 after a Mingyuan Wang hat-trick, meaning they will face hosts France in the quarter-finals.

Matching their women’s side, they have a flawless record in the initial stage, backing up victories against Japan and Egypt while Ukraine’s first defeat saw them paired with Iran in the last-eight.

Women

Japan finished with a third consecutive win by beating France 6-0 to deny the hosts a historic first Paralympic point.

Due to the draw between Canada and South Korea earlier in the day, both teams knew their final group stage standings before their meeting with Japan facing Brazil in the quarter-finals and France playing China.

South Korea and Canada ended goalless, the latter’s second clean sheet of the competition, as they both ended the group stage with four points.

This ensured Canada kept up their record as the joint-best defence in the women’s competition alongside Japan with just two goals conceded – both against their Asian counterparts.

Amy Burk hailed their resolve: ‘We absolutely take pride in our defence. If we can keep our game tight, the other team could get flustered and we can pop a goal in. We have great belief in each other and we know that whoever plays, our defensive structure doesn’t change.’

South Korea have also been strong defensively, letting in just four goals and will need to perform in the same vein against reigning champions Turkey in the last-eight.

China made it a perfect group stage with a third win in as many games by beating Israel 6-1 to secure top spot and set up a quarter-final meeting with hosts France.

Chunyan Wang and Zhenhua Cao scored three apiece against Raz Shoham’s team who will now face Canada in the last-eight, having started slowly again, without a goal in their last two first halves.