Lack of goal power was main problem for women's team
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South Korean forward Jung Seol-bin, right, vies for the ball against China in the Asian qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, Monday. Korea lost 0-1. / Yonhap
By John Duerden
The win finally came for the South Korean women’s team in the qualification round for the 2016 Olympic Games with a 4-0 victory over Vietnam in Osaka early on Wednesday evening. The team was already out of the running to finish in the top two spots in the six-nation competition and book a place in Rio but it was good to get three points on the board.
Had the ladies met Vietnam in the opening game then the outcome could have been different but perhaps not.
In the end it was like this: two 1-1 ties with North Korea and Japan, followed by defeats at the hands of Australia and China. This is tough opposition. North Korea has won three Asian titles this century, Japan was 2011 World Champion, 2015 runner-up and 2012 Olympic silver medalist. Australia reached the quarterfinal of the 2015 World Cup as did China who has been the Asian champion no less than eight times.
With all this talent, it was always going to be tough for the South Koreans to qualify for the Olympics. Unlike the South Korean men’s team, who are Asia’s most successful national team, the women are good but have always been outside the elite.
The question is whether they are getting closer. They seem to be. Had things turned out differently in the first two games, there could have been famous wins over the DPRK and Japan. Ji So-yun, the team’s star, who plays her club football for Chelsea in England, missed a second half penalty against Japan and if that would have gone in, it could all have been different.
The losses against Australia and China, the two teams that have made it to Brazil, were nothing to be ashamed of. The Aussies blew Japan away with their aggressive and energetic play and defeated South Korea 2-0. Both goals came in the first 15 minutes with the ladies from Seoul starting slowly. After that, they more than matched the Matildas but the damage had been done. Then the game against China was a narrow but deserved defeat.
A lack of goal power was an obvious problem with just two goals in the first four games, the games that mattered. When games are tight, Korea struggles to break through. There was too much pressure and reliance on Ji and while Jung Seol-bin did well, scoring both goals, there was not enough support and not enough variety in their attack.
At times there was a lack of concentration in key moments with individual errors costing the team dearly. It’s back to the drawing board of the women’s professional league and there have to be more resources poured into this effort and attention paid to it.
Overall though, the team is improving. The team is becoming defensively stronger and is capable of causing strong teams problems. Korea is getting closer to becoming the best in Asia.