Korean women’s soccer, which aims to qualify for the first Olympics in history, must pass through a thorny field. We must survive in the ‘group of death’ competing with North Korea, China and Thailand.
The Korean women’s national soccer team, led by head coach Colin Bell, was placed in Group B with North Korea, China and Thailand as a result of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) draw for the 2024 Paris Olympics Asian second qualifying round held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 18th. I was faced with the worst case scenario.
Korea, which belongs to pot 2, could not avoid one of the ‘big three’ Asian teams in pot 1, Japan, China and Australia, but wanted to avoid North Korea, which belonged to pot 4.
Although North Korea does not have a FIFA ranking as it has not recently entered an international competition or played an evaluation match, it is classified as a powerhouse in Asia along with Japan, China and Australia. The only victory South Korea had against North Korea was a 1-0 victory in the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) Cup (East Asian Cup) in August 2005. In the rest of the matches, they were absolutely inferior with 3 draws and 15 losses.먹튀검증
1st seed China, which ranks 13th in the FIFA rankings, four places higher than Korea (17th), is also a difficult opponent. With a total record of 29 wins, 8 draws and 4 losses, it is absolutely strong against Korea. The last time Korea won against China was the East Asian Cup (1-0 win) held in Wuhan, China in August 2015, and there has been no victory in 9 games since then (3 draws and 6 losses). Also, the Group B match of the second qualifying round will be held in China.
Korea faced the toughest team in Pot 3 as well. Thailand (44th) is ahead of Korea with 7 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, including the recent 4 consecutive wins, but has the highest FIFA ranking among the three pot 3 countries (Philippines 49th, Uzbekistan 50th).
In the second preliminary round, which starts at the end of October, 12 countries will be divided into three groups for a group stage. 1st place in each group and 2nd place in each group will advance to the final preliminary round. In the final qualifying round held in February next year, the owners of the two Olympic tickets will be decided.