Maintaining Frst Place In The Olympic Qualifying Group
The South Korean women"s soccer team finished the inter-Korean match in a draw.
The women"s national team led by head coach Colin Bell tied North Korea 0-0 in the second Group B match of the second qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics at Xiamen Egret Stadium in Fujian, China on the 29th.
South Korea, which beat Thailand 10-1 earlier, continued its good atmosphere by bringing a point against North Korea, a difficult opponent. It is tied with North Korea with one win and one draw (four points), but maintained the top spot in the goal difference ceremony.
The second qualifying round for women"s soccer for the Olympics will be divided into three groups of 12 teams, four teams each. Only three teams ranked first in each group and one team ranked second in the group will head to the third qualifying round.
South Korea is in the same group as Thailand, North Korea, and China. With the final match against China to finish second in the group, they had to at least avoid losing the match against North Korea.
To this end, Casey Eugene Fair (independent), Jeon Eun-ha (Suwon FC), Cheon Garam (Hwacheon KSPO), Ji So-yeon (Suwon FC), Lee Young-joo (Madrid CFF), Jang Seul-ki (Incheon Hyundai Steel), Choo Hyo-joo (Suwon FC), Shim Seo-yeon (Suwon FC), Kim Hye-ri (Incheon Hyundai Steel), Lee Eun-young (Korea University), and Jungmi Kim (Incheon Hyundai Steel) started.
South Korea played a cautious game against North Korea based on a 5-4-1 formation. He saw an opportunity by blocking North Korea, which has good power. In the 11th minute of the first half, Ji So-yeon attempted a sharp right-footed shot from outside the penalty box, threatening North Korea.
The crisis came in the middle of the first half. Twenty minutes later, North Korea tightened the reins of the attack. Starting with Kim Kyung-yong"s shot, Lee Jong-geum"s mid-range shot in the 23rd minute and Kim Kyung-yong"s header again in the 25th minute. All three times were effective shots heading for the South Korean goal, but fortunately, Jungmi Kim"s goalkeeper showed his power to overcome the crisis with a good defense.
South Korea, which avoided losing a point, started a counterattack and plagued the North Korean defense through Casey Eugene"s physical. The last 10 minutes of the first half were rather time for South Korea to create more chances to attack. North Korea also strongly pushed itself in the box to stop Casey Eugene. In the process, at the end of the first half, South Korea claimed a penalty kick over the scene where Casey Eugene was fouled, but the decision did not change because there was no VAR.
The balance continued in the second half. Like the first half, North Korea"s momentum was fierce at the beginning of the second half. North Korea, which has a strong mid-range shot from outside the box, continued to fire cannons, and Jungmi Kim"s goalkeeper showed good defense twice.
South Korea has taken out a replacement card to prevent North Korea"s offensive. I changed the front line first. He also changed his offense by bringing in Casey Eugene and putting in Son Hwa-yeon (Incheon Hyundai Steel). In the 23rd minute of the second half, Korea scored Lee Geum-min (Brighton & Hove Albion) from overseas and Kang Chae-rim (Incheon Hyundai Steel), who scored in the match against Thailand, instead of Eunha and Chun Garam.
South Korea has reinvigorated its new players. North Korea also faced off with a sharp mid-range shot in the 34th minute of the second half. For the remaining 10 minutes, they were aggressive against each other, which led to a battle. The national team did not lose a point to North Korea until the end. In particular, the last crisis came to North Korea"s corner kick just before the end, but it held up well and drew.
The results were different from those of a month ago. The inter-Korean confrontation was the first return match in about a month. South Korea met North Korea in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last month and recorded a narrow defeat. South Korea, which took the lead with the opponent"s own goal in the early hours of the first half, was all twisted when Son Hwa-yeon was sent off in a dubious manner.
Even then, the national team struggled with 10 players. However, it was not easy to stop North Korea due to its inferiority in number. He fought well 1-1 until the middle of the second half, but once it was pierced, it collapsed. Moreover, South Korea, which suffered from the overlapping tendency of the referee not to point out North Korea"s rough play, gave Ahn Myung-song a come-from-behind goal in the 36th minute of the second half, deepening its defeat.
He raised the line to make up for this, but rather lost by a big margin, allowing a third run in the 45th minute of the second half and a penalty kick due to a handball foul in extra time. It felt more like losing to North Korea due to external variables than to its ability.
Coach Bell, who was angry at the unfairness of the decision at the time, said, "I wonder if a good referee has been assigned to such an important game. "We need to recruit more professional referees for such competitions," he said. "Who made this method?" Let 16 countries compete fairly in four groups," he said, complaining of unfairness.
On the same day, when they met again, vowing to avenge the Asian Games, South Korea showed off their well-organized defense and produced a draw. As it proceeded 11 to 11, there was no significant difference from North Korea. Although he failed to take revenge, he managed to draw with North Korea.
However, South Korea is still in a big disadvantage with North Korea, including the draw on the day, with one win, four draws and 16 losses. South Korea"s only victory over North Korea was in August 2005, 18 years ago. Therefore, Korean women"s soccer, which passed the difficult mountain to a draw, continued its smooth progress toward its first-ever Olympic finals.
South Korea will play the final group match against China on the 1st of next month.