Two goals in the first half due to goalkeeping errors on handball penalties.
The South Korean women’s national team’s bid to reach the round of 16 for the first time in eight years at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand 2023 was derailed by a costly error in their first game.
Colleen Bell’s side fell to a 0-2 defeat against Colombia in their Group H opener at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia, on Friday (June 25).
It started well. Despite losing possession to the Colombians, the Korean women’s soccer team was able to find space in the Colombian backline with concise play.
Three minutes into the game, Cho So-hyun (Tottenham) had a mid-range shot deflected off a player, and Choi Yoo-ri (Hyundai Steel) had a left-footed shot blocked by the keeper in the eighth minute.
In the 11th minute, Son Hwa-yeon (Hyundai Steel) won a set-piece opportunity outside the opponent’s penalty box, and Ji So-yeon aimed a sharp right-footed shot that was saved by the goalkeeper.
South Korea was left in tears after missing the chance to take the lead.
In the 28th minute of the first half, Shim Seo-yeon (Suwon FC) was flagged for a handball foul while blocking a shot by Colombia’s Manuel Banegas, resulting in a penalty kick and a yellow card.
Catalina Usme, the Colombian kicker, calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net to take the lead.
After conceding the first goal, South Korea began to falter.
In the 39th minute of the first half, Colombia’s rookie forward Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid), born in 2005, scored another goal.
Korea’s defense failed to stop her as she broke down the left flank, and her right-footed shot hit goalkeeper Yoon Young-gl (BK Hecken) and went straight into the net.
It was a situation that could have been cleared away, but instead, we got complacent and conceded a goal.
Down 0-2 after two crucial mistakes, South Korea used their stamina from intense training to pound the Colombian goal in the second half.
With no goals in sight, Coach Bell threw in the towel by introducing long striker Park Eun-sun (Seoul Metropolitan Government) in the 23rd minute and Casey Eugene Fair (PDA), the youngest player in the tournament, in the 33rd minute.
However, the tightly closed Colombian goal was not easily opened.
Instead, their aggressive offense forced the opposition to counterattack and threatened to score another goal.
In the end, the Koreans were unable to overcome their two first-half mistakes and were unable to advance to the round of 16.
Meanwhile, after dropping their first game, South Korea sit in third place in Group H (W0-DG ?2). Germany, 카지노사이트 who defeated Morocco the day before (P=0 – Goals for ?5), is first (P3 – Goals for +5) and Colombia is second (P3 – Goals for +2).
This is the first-place finisher in each group advancing to the knockout rounds.