MONTE CARLO, Monaco – Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for the 2011-2012 season Thursday. Iniesta earned 19 votes in the poll of journalists from across Europe, two more than Barcelona teammate and last year's winner, Lionel Messi, and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. The 28-year-old Iniesta was instrumental in helping Spain successfully defend its European Championship title this summer and was crowned the tournament's best player. A three-man shortlist was selected by a panel of 53 journalists drawn from each of UEFA's member nations. The same journalists then voted for the winner immediately after the draw for this season's Champions League group stage. UEFA created the honor after France Football magazine combined its traditional European award with FIFA's world player prize. Japan, Nigeria advance In Tokyo, Hanae Shibata scored two goals as Japan beat South Korea 3-1 Thursday, while Nigeria edged out Mexico 1-0 to advance to the semifinals of the women's under-20 World Cup. Shibata scored in the eighth minute to give Japan an early lead, but Jeoun Eun-ha equalized for the visitors seven minutes later at Tokyo's National Stadium. Shibata put the hosts ahead in the 19th minute, and Yoko Tanaka extended the lead in the 37th with her fifth goal of the tournament. Japan will face the winner of Friday's quarterfinal match between defending champion Germany and Norway on Tuesday. In Thursday's other quarterfinal, Desire Oparanozie scored in extra time for Nigeria. — Agencies
