The Korean women’s soccer team has advanced to the finals of the World Cup for the third time in a row by defeating ‘strong’ Australia and reaching the semifinals of the 2022 Asian Football Federation (AFC) Asian Cup.
The Korean national team, led by coach Colin Bell, won the women’s Asian Cup quarterfinals against Australia 1-0 at the Siri Sib Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India on the 30th thanks to Ji So-yeon (Chelsea)’s winning goal in the 42nd minute of the second half.
Korea, who placed 2nd in Group C with 2 wins and 1 draw, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in 8 years since the 2014 tournament (4th place), surpassing Australia, which was ranked 1st in Group B, which had three wins on the same day.
South Korea is aiming to win the Asian Cup for the first time in its history.
In the previous 2018 competition, Korea placed 5th, and the all-time best performance was 3rd in the 2003 competition.
In addition, Korea will advance to the women’s World Cup finals jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
In this tournament, the top 5 (6th including Australia) teams will be given a ticket to the World Cup finals.
Korea, which has achieved one goal by winning the World Cup qualification, will now compete with the winner of the Taiwan-Philippines quarterfinals on the 3rd of next month to advance to the final.
Korea, with Choi Yu-ri at the forefront, placed Son Hwa-yeon (Hyundai Steel), Ji So-yeon, Jo So-hyeon (Tottenham) and Lee Geum-min (Brighton) in the second line to face Australia.
On this day, Cho So-hyeon appeared in the 137th match of A-match, surpassing former national team manager Cha Beom-geun and Ulsan Hyundai manager Hong Myung-bo (appeared in more than 136 A-match matches), setting the record for the most appearances of a Korean player in A-match history.
While Seulgi Jang (Hyundai Steel) was absent due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the defense team is Hyo-Joo Chu (Suwon FC), Seo-Yeon Shim (Sports Toto), Young-Joo Lee (CFF of Madrid), Seon-Joo Lim, Hye-Ri Kim (Above Hyundai Steel) ) was made up.
The goalkeeper was Kim Jung-mi (Hyundai Steel).
Korea, ranked 18th in the FIFA rankings, had a bit of trouble with the onslaught of Australia, ranked 11th, but held up well in the first half without conceding.
In the 19th minute of the first half, Mary Fowler’s left-footed shot, which rushed into a penalty arc, was blocked by goalkeeper Jeongmi Kim, and Sam Kerr’s header hit the post from a corner kick one minute later.
Korea, who had overcome the crisis, also counterattacked, but in the 22nd minute of the first half, Cho So-hyeon’s right-footed mid-range shot from near the right side of the penalty arc missed the goal.
Korea Republic got a good opportunity with a penalty kick in the 34th minute of the first half.
Lee Geum-min fell after a collision with Caitlyn Fuld, and a penalty kick was awarded after video review (VAR). However, Korea’s opening goal was canceled as Jo So-hyun’s right-footed shot went high as the kicker.
Korea, which finished 0-0 in the first half, gradually increased momentum in the second half, but in the 6th minute of the second half, Lee Geum-min’s right-footed shot, which received a pass from Choi Yu-ri, and Cho So-hyeon’s header shot 4 minutes later, were blocked by the opposing goalkeeper.
Australia’s balance was not broken in the 31st minute of the second half as Kerr’s right-footed shot missed the front of the goal area.
Korea replaced Choi Yu-ri with Lee Min-ah (Hyundai Steel) in the 32nd minute of the second half, and Son Hwa-yeon with Yeo Min-ji (Han Su-won) in the 40th minute, aiming for ‘one shot’.
And the goal that had been waiting for 42 minutes in the second half exploded.
Ji So-yeon, who received Lee Geum-min’s pass, quickly broke through, and a shot with her right foot from near the left side of the penalty area was sucked straight into the goal.
Ji So-yeon complained of pain after scoring and was substituted out, raising concerns, but Korea kept the winning goal to the end to win.
It is the first time in 12 years that Korea won the match A against Australia since the Peace Queen Cup (2-1) on October 23, 2010.
With this, Korea recorded 3 wins, 2 draws and 13 losses against Australia.
On the other hand, in the other quarterfinals held at the same time, Japan, which is challenging for three consecutive championships, defeated Thailand 7-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals, and also qualified for the World Cup finals.
Japan won the match with four goals from Yuika Sugasawa and goals from Hinata Miyazawa, Rin Sumida and Riko Ueki.
◇ 30 days record
▲ 2022 Asian Football Federation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup quarterfinals
Korea 1(0-0 1-0)0 Australia
△ Goal = Ji So-yeon (42 minutes later, Korea)