David vs. Goliath battles don’t get any more extreme.
Iran, making just their second appearance at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup were looking to simply score their first ever goal in the competition. By contrast, Korea Republic entered this tournament looking to do one better than their 2022 campaign, where they finished as runners-up to China.
Yet despite that difference, Iran held firm far longer than expected, pushing Korea Republic’s forwards to the brink. Suwon FC’s Choe Yu-ri’s opened the scoring in the 37th minute with a tidy finish on the turn after Jang Sel-gi’s effort hit the post, from which Iran failed to clear in the chaos.
The second half saw Korea pick up the tempo a little more, with coach Shin Sang-woo making a in a string of substitutions just before the hour mark, which paid off almost instantly. Lee Eun-young won Korea a penalty with her first touch of the game, which was comfortably converted by Kim Hye-ri.
Kim produced a piece of magic again in the 75th minute, launching a free kick from the right into the middle of the box to find Ko Yoo-jin’s head with a perfectly executed set-piece move to lock in a 3-0 victory for Korea Republic in their opening game.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Iran’s defence cannot be underestimated: Through the 90 minutes, Iran remained firmly disciplined, with none of Korea Republic’s goals coming from a well constructed open play attack. Credit for that resilience goes to goalkeeper Maryam Yektaei and her defence, who regularly threw their bodies on the line. With Australia up next on Thursday, who scraped trough with a 1-0 win over the Philippines, this Iranian defence has shown they can cause issues for the home side.
Korea’s shooting boots need polishing: Whilst a 3-0 scoreline may showcase a dominating win, it certainly wasn’t a breezy win for Korea Republic. The ‘Taegeuk Ladies’ produced a whopping 26 shots towards Yektaei’s goal, with 19 coming in the first half alone. However, from these strikes clinical finishing was still mostly missing. Only eight of those 26 shots were on target, and half of those came in the second half. The half-time team talk seemed to fire up the Koreans, but they will need a lot more fire when going up against more experienced and established oppositions like the Philippines and Australia.
WHAT THEY SAID
Casey Phair – Korea Republic:
On the Game – “I thought that we as a team performed really well and worked really hard. We definitely could’ve scored a few more and missed a couple of chances, and I think that’s something we will definitely work on in the upcoming trainings but I think it was a really good starting point to start to the tournament with three points and just gives us more things to work on in training and we’re really excited for the next game.”
On the missed chances – “I think that the hardest part is creating the chance and tonight was just one of those nights and I think we just have to focus on that final detail. But the biggest part for me was the fact that we created so many chances and we just have to finish them for the next game.”
On Ji So-yun – “To speak for myself, she is one of the reasons why I want to work so hard for this team. Not just her, but the other older players that have come before us. They’ve worked really hard, not just on the field but off the field to make Korean women’s soccer a better place for us. So for me as a young player it motivates me more to see how much she works, and off the field with everything she does, she’s just an amazing person, an amazing leader and an amazing player.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
Korea Republic and Iran remain on the sun-soaked Gold Coast for their Matchday Two fixtures against the Philippines and host nation, Australia, respectively.
Philippines vs. South Korea
Thursday 5 March at 1:00pm
Gold Coast Stadium
Iran vs. Australia
Thursday 5 March at 1:00pm
Gold Coast Stadium
