South Korea’s women’s soccer team, led by head coach Colin Bell, led by an opponent’s own goal in the 11th minute of the first half of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games women’s soccer quarterfinals, which began at 5:30 p.m. on the 30th at Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium in Zhejiang Province, China, but nine minutes later, it gave up a free-kick equalizer to North Korea’s Rihak, ending the 45th minute with a 1-1 draw. South Korea even suffered a red card during the first half as striker Son Hwa-yeon accumulated warnings with a dubious decision.
South Korea, which recently won three consecutive bronze medals at the Asian Games, is aiming for its first-ever final in this tournament. 스포츠토토
Korea put Park Eun-sun (Seoul City Hall), who is over 180 centimeters tall and is good at controlling the right to provide, at the forefront of the game along with active Choi Yuri (Birmingham City) and Son Hwa-yeon (Hyundai Steel). Signboards Ji So-yeon worked with Jeon Eun-ha (Suwon FC) and Cheon Garam (Hwacheon KSPO) in the midfield.
Jang Seul-ki, Kim Hye-ri (Hyundai Steel), Shim Seo-yeon, and Choo Hyo-joo (Suwon FC) were in the back four. Born in 1984, Jungmi Kim (Hyundai Steel), the oldest player in the team, was chosen. On the other hand, veteran midfielder Lee Min-ah (Hyundai Steel) was excluded from the roster due to injury.
In North Korea, goalkeeper Kim Eun-hee, Ri Myung-geum, Ri Geum-hyang (my hometown), Wi Jung-sim (425), and Ri Hye-kyung (Amrokgang) stood on the defense line. Joo Hyo-sim, Lee Hak (425), and Choi Geum-ok (My Hometown) stood as midfielders, while Ahn Myung-song, Hong Sung-ok (Yalu Kang), and Kim Kyung-young (My Hometown) formed a three-top at the front.
Coach Bell, who is aiming for his first-ever Asian Games gold medal, described the match against North Korea as a “must-win game” after the last Group E match against Hong Kong on the 28th. South Korea has met North Korea five times in the past Asian Games, including the semifinals of the 2014 Incheon Games, and lost all of them. In the past A matches, they met 19 times and are inferior enough to have only one win, three draws and 15 losses.
The two teams staged a sharp war of nerves, shaking hands hard even before the start of the game. This pattern appeared from the beginning of the first half. Hong Sung-ok made a tough two-legged tackle when South Korea’s ace Ji So-yeon broke through in the North Korean defense in the second minute of the first half. As a result, players from the two teams competed early on the ground, including a physical fight reminiscent of “bench clearing.”
In the fifth minute of the first half, Li Hak committed a foul in the penalty area, but the Thai referee just passed. There is no VAR at all in this competition.
Since then, there has been a game in which North Korea blocks its will to attack South Korea with strong forward pressure. With Cambodia absent from the tournament, North Korea has reserved more physical strength by playing two matches, such as friendly matches, with Singapore confirmed to advance to the quarterfinals. In addition, South Korea played three group matches, took a day off, and played a match against North Korea, while North Korea took a two-day break and engaged in inter-Korean confrontation.
However, as if expecting this, the Taeguk girls also shook the North Korean gate through a side breakthrough, and in the 10th minute of the first half, Son Hwa-yeon’s shot hit the opponent’s goalkeeper and led to a corner kick.
And this led to a score. Kim Hye-ri scored a corner kick on the right side, which led to an own goal in which the ball flowed backward while Park Eun-sun and North Korean players fought for an aerial ball, hitting Ri Hye-kyung’s foot and being sucked into the goal.
Lee Hye-sung fell down on the ground and failed to get up as if she was disappointed when the ball went into the goal.
Since then, North Korea has further increased the proportion of attacks and Ahn Myung-song attempted a shot once in the 16th minute of the first half, but ended up in nothing. However, he then scored an equalizer in a set piece chance to bring the game to square one early on. In the 20th minute of the first half, Li Hak tried to kick with his right foot in a free kick opportunity from the left side of the arc, which cut the center of the right corner so that even the goalkeeper Jungmi Kim could not use his hands.
The North Korean coaching staff, who were nervous about their own goals, hugged each other and enjoyed the joy.
The two teams went into a lull after exchanging one goal each. North Korea tried to pressure South Korea again, but Taeguk Nangja also properly blocked North Korea’s rough play by maintaining a good distance between strikers, midfielders and defenders.
However, South Korea suffered an absurd incident in the 40th minute of the first half when striker Son Hwa-yeon was sent off due to a dubious decision by the referee. Park Eun-sun shot a long free kick from the back, and Son Hwa-yeon was hit by North Korean goalkeeper Kim Eun-hee’s fist while rushing to connect with a head kick, but the referee blew the whistle and warned Son Hwa-yeon.
Son Hwa-yeon, who received a yellow card once during the first half, left the ground due to accumulated warnings. Son Hwa-yeon also shook her head as if she couldn’t understand after deviating from the touch line and expressed regret over her waiting.
Later, in the 44th minute of the first half, Ri Hak, who was competing with Ji So-yeon for an aerial ball, deliberately knocked Ji So-yeon over. Even though Ji So-yeon rolled, the referee only declared foul on Korea without any warning.
Lee Myung-geum fired a right-footed diagonal shot from the right side of the penalty area in extra time, but ended up in nothing. In the end, even though South Korea scored the first goal, it allowed an equalizer and finished the first half with one inferiority.