Women's soccer, under Hansoo, 'beaten by Uzbekistan', may not make it to Olympics→China must win unconditionally
South Korea's women's soccer team kept their hopes of qualifying for their first-ever Olympic Games alive by drawing with North Korea.
However, the team was drawn in the 'Group of Death', so even though they have overcome one big hurdle, they are not in a position to rest easy. Failure to defeat the hosts on Day 1 would have seen them fall behind the Philippines and Uzbekistan, both of whom are far lesser teams than South Korea, and miss out on qualifying for the final round.
The women's soccer team, led by head coach Colleen Bell, put up a stubborn fight and drew 0-0 in the second North-South match of Group B at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Asia Second Qualifying Round in Xiamen, China, on Sept. 29. South Korea had previously suffered a 1-4 defeat in the quarterfinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games on March 30 after being outnumbered and outplayed by the Thai referee.
It was expected to be an uphill battle for the South Koreans as North Korea had already beaten hosts China, the 2022 Women's Asian Cup winners, 2-1 in the first leg, but the players stuck together to earn a valuable point. The Taegeuks proved that their loss at the Asian Games was a result of being outplayed 10 to 11, and they fought hard and refused to be pushed around by North Korea. A draw was as good as a win, keeping their Olympic hopes alive.
South Korea finished 1-1 with North Korea, but tied on winner-take-all, which is the next rule for ranking teams with the same number of points, and thus retained the top spot in Group B ahead of the next rule, goal difference. Belo Horizonte had previously defeated Thailand 10-1 on June 26.
Even with this valuable draw, it's still unclear if South Korea will qualify for the Paris Olympics. In a system where only four of the 12 second-round teams qualify for the final round, South Korea needs two wins and a draw to advance.
In this second round, only the three top teams from each of the three groups and the best two finishers from each group will qualify.
South Korea will play China in its final third-place game on Jan. 1 at 8:35 p.m. A win will guarantee a spot in the final round. If North Korea defeats Thailand by more than 10 goals and has a better overall goal differential than South Korea, they will still have the best record of the two best teams in each group.
However, if they draw with China, they could very well be eliminated even if they play well. The Philippines and Uzbekistan, both 1-1 in Group A, will meet the underdogs Iran and India, respectively, in the final match of the second round. If either the Philippines or Uzbekistan wins their final match, they will go 2-1 and qualify ahead of South Korea, which is 1-1-2.
Needless to say, the Belo Horizonte will have a must-win mentality against China. The Philippines and Uzbekistan are teams that would lose to South Korea by at least four or five goals if they were to play them, but have been fortunate enough to be in the final group. The Philippines actually lost 0-8 to Australia, the best team in Group A, in the second round. Uzbekistan also lost 0-2 to Japan.
North Korea is the reason South Korea is in this situation. Since North Korea hasn't played an international tournament since COVID-19, they don't have a FIFA ranking, so they were the lowest seed in the second qualifying round, regardless of their performance, and ended up in a group with South Korea and China.
They have a very good chance of beating China and drawing with South Korea to qualify for the final round. North Korea only needs to beat Thailand to qualify.
South Korean women's soccer has qualified for the Women's World Cup four times, including three consecutive finals, but has never qualified for the Olympics. Unlike men's soccer, women's soccer is represented at the Olympics by a national team, but with only 12 participating teams, there are only two tickets for Asia. 바카라사이트
On the other hand, the Asian qualifiers for the Olympics are quite a battle, with South Korea, Australia, Japan, China, North Korea, and more all capable of reaching the Women's World Cup Round of 16.
With Japan hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and North Korea sitting out due to COVID-19, South Korea made it to the final four-team Asian qualifier, but fell to China 1-1 on penalties in the second leg.
At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where six teams played league matches in a neutral site, South Korea drew with North Korea and Japan, but then lost to Australia and China, beating only Vietnam, and failed to qualify again with 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses.