South Korea’s 3-0 victory over Vietnam to kick off the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup in India on Friday could have been even more lopsided, had the players not let up midway through the first half.
The winning coach Colin Bell said afterward that, while he was happy to have started the continental competition with a win, he would have preferred more consistent effort from his players.
No. 18 South Korea had little trouble against No. 32 Vietnam in the Group C showdown. South Korea were up 2-0 after just seven minutes, on a goal by Ji So-yun and then a Vietnamese own goal.
And that’s when the South Korean foot came off the pedal.
Knowing that underdog Vietnam would set up a low block and be content to play deep in their own zone, Bell implored his players to use their superior speed and skill to break down the wall. They did it well, just not long enough.
“Obviously, we were prepared to play against a team that would be organized defensively,” Bell said. “We needed to keep the ball moving and keep the opponents moving, which we did very well in the first 10 to 15 minutes and we scored two goals. Then we took the speed out of the game and made things too complicated and had too many touches.
“We tried to play the most difficult ball instead of keeping things nice and simple. It was easier for the opponents to keep themselves organized,” Bell continued. “Every time we sped things up, we looked dangerous and created chances.”
Ji’s 81st-minute penalty secured the three-goal win. Bell said he wished the team would have scored a couple more goals in the first half to put the game out of reach early. Still, it was “a clear and deserved victory,” he said.
As South Korea try to win the Women’s Asian Cup for the first time, Bell wants his players to be “more direct” in their approach.
“When we do that, and we have the technical ability to do that, we look good,” he said. “When we complicate things, for every opponent, we’ll be easy to defend.”
Up next will be Myanmar, the lowest-ranked team in Group C at No. 46. Bell said he expects them to have a similar approach as Vietnam — play dogged defense and look to catch South Korea napping on counterattack chances.
Japan beat Myanmar 5-0 earlier Friday, and four of those goals came in the second half.
“When Japan stepped up their speed, they created more chances against Myanmar,” Bell said. “(Speed) is going to be important again. It’s important for us now to recover quickly because we need that concentration to be able to break down these teams.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency