Manchester United Women's hopes of having Hinata Miyazawa and Jayde Riviere return with medals from the Paris Olympics have been dashed this weekend by two quarter-final defeats.
The United midfielder was named among the substitutes and came on nine minutes from the end of normal time, when she replaced Manchester City's new signing Aoba Fujino.
Japan were unable to take a handful of opportunities to respond, and therefore lost 1-0 - one round away from the semi-finals that could have at least earned them a bronze medal.
The Reds defender picked up an ankle injury in a warm-up game before the competition, and was absent for the fourth and, as it turned out, final time on Saturday evening as her country faced Germany in the last eight.
The 90 minutes again ended goalless and not even the extra 30 could separate the sides at Stade Velodrome in Marseille. Canada's fate was eventually sealed on penalties, as Germany lived up to their reputation of keeping cool heads in the shootout.
Giulia Gwinn, Janina Minge, Felicitas Rauch and Ann-Katrin Berger all scored for the European side as they won 4-2. Former Reds forward Adriana Leon, who now plays her club football for Aston Villa, was one of the two Canadian players who was unable to convert their spot-kicks.
Commiserations to Hinata and Jayde – we’ll look forward to you joining your United team-mates in pre-season training in due course.