Wait is over for Korea's women

South Korea's women's national football team head coach Colin Bell, center, speaks during a training session at Thomas Hassall Anglican College near Sydney in Australia, Wednesday. Yonhap

By John Duerden

After four years of waiting, South Korea's fourth appearance at the Women's World Cup is about to start. There have been three past attempts and one place in the second round with the hope now that it becomes four from two in the coming weeks.

This is a team that should have been coming to Australia and New Zealand as Asian champions before throwing away a 2-0 lead in the final in 2022 against China. That is in the past now. Korea has been placed in Group H which is far from easy. Colin Bell should be aiming to finish top two in the four-team group and go into the Round of 16.

The first game is against Colombia on July 25 in Sydney. All opening games at World Cups are crucial but with the South Americans, ranked 25 in the world and eight places below Korea, this is going to be vital. Victory means that the second round is immediately in sight with the second clash coming with World Cup debutant Morocco, a team that Korea will be looking to take all three points from. It ends on Aug. 3 in Brisbane with a game against Germany, ranked second. The Germans are, on paper, the strongest in the group but could already be through to the second round by the time the Korea clash rolls around.

In the end however, a win against Colombia would set the team up very nicely though it will be a tough encounter in all senses of the word. Last week, the South Americans took on Ireland in a warm-up in Brisbane but the Irish walked off the field after 20 minutes of a game that was played behind closed doors.

"The game, which was held in Meakin Park, Brisbane, became overly physical and it was decided, following consultation with the match officials, to end the game," the Irish federation said in a statement.

Coach Vera Pauw said that her players “feared for their bodies” due to the physical nature of Colombia. It is rare indeed for such a thing to happen in what is supposed to be a friendly warm-up between teams preparing for the tournament.

Colombian defender Daniela Caracas was less than impressed. “They are just girls, one little foul and they started complaining. They were having a chat among themselves to continue or not so we weren't going to hang around waiting for them,” she said. “Honestly, let them eat shit.”

It's going to be a battle then but Korea has shown in the past that it can compete with the best. A draw would not be the worst result and mean that if the likes of Ji So-yun and Cho So-hyun can lead the team to victory over Morocco then they will go into the final game against Germany in a good position. Four years of waiting are nearly over.