Japan women's soccer team manager Asako Takakura is seen in a Tokyo Olympic women's football match against Chile on July 27, 2021, at Miyagi Stadium in Miyagi Prefecture. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Asako Takakura will step down as manager of the national women's team, Nadeshiko Japan, following a disappointing quarterfinal exit at the Tokyo Olympics, a source with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.

       The 53-year-old Takakura was the first woman to manage one of Japan's senior national teams in the sport.

       With Takakura in charge, Japan won the 2014 under-17 Women's World Cup. She took over Nadeshiko Japan in April 2016, after Japan failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

       Takakura inherited an aging squad with a core of players from the team that won the 2011 Women's World Cup and finished runners-up at the 2012 London Olympics.

       She oversaw a generational change within the squad, and Nadeshiko Japan won the 2018 Women's Asian Cup, but failed to reach the quarterfinals at the following year's Women's World Cup.

       She was expected to take the team to a medal at this summer's Olympics, but instead oversaw a 3-1 quarterfinal exit against eventual silver medalists Sweden.

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