Korea Republic keep semi-final hopes alive
Nanjing: Korea Republic kept their hopes of a fifth successive FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup appearance alive, bouncing back to beat Vietnam 5-0 at Jiangsu Training Base Stadium on Thursday.
Two goals in the first 22 minutes laid the foundation for the win, which keeps Jong Song-chon’s side in AFC U-19 Women’s Championship semi-final contention, with a final Group B match against Japan to decide their fate.
Jong promoted forward Mun Eun-ju (pictured below, centre) to the starting line-up, and the forward made an immediate impact, giving her side an eighth minute lead with a simple tap in after Choi Jina breached the Vietnamese defence.
Korea Republic doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute, with Mun this time playing the role of provider, as her low cross evaded everyone in the penalty area – including Vietnamese goalkeeper Doan Thi Ngoc Phuong – and giving Kim So-eun an empty net to aim at, and she duly made it 2-0.
Truc Huong was the architect of a handful of counter-attacks, one of which ended with Nguyen Thi Hoa getting a header on target, but Vietnam largely struggled to trouble to Koreans, who continued to attack with regularity.
In the second half, Korea Republic continued on from where they left off, and looked to have made it 3-0 in the 55th minute, when Kim Seo-yeon’s shot squirmed under Phuong, who raced back to claim the ball centimetres before it crossed the line.
But the goalkeeper had nowhere to hide moments later, when Kim Eun-soul’s free-kick ended up in the net after Phuong spilled what appeared to be a straight-forward catch.
That goal effectively put the result beyond doubt, but Kim So-eun (pictured above, right) breached the offside trap to roll home her second from close range with around 15 minutes remaining.
She completed a hat-trick shortly thereafter, finishing emphatically after being supplied by a lovely, defence-splitting pass from Mun.
With three much-needed points under their belt, Korea Republic now have three days to prepare for what will be a tournament-defining final group stage match against Japan on Sunday, while Vietnam will cross paths with Australia.
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com
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