Sawa returned to international competition in 2014 to help Japan win the 2014 Asian Cup, scoring her 82nd international goal in the process. In 2015, she returned to the national team from injury after a one-year absence and marked the occasion by scoring the winning goal, on an assist by Aya Miyama, in a warm-up match against New Zealand. Sawa and Brazil's Formiga became the first footballers to appear for a record sixth World Cup at the 2015 World Cup in Canada. However Japan went on to lose 5–2 to the US in the final.