SEOUL– Despite losing all three matches at a recent tuneup tournament for this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, South Korean mainstays Ji So-yun and Choe Yu-ri said Monday they still took away positive lessons.
South Korea fell to England, Belgium and Italy by a combined 8-2 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England earlier this month. On the surface, it seemed to have been a disastrous tournament for a team preparing for the Women’s World Cup in July in Australia.
However, Ji said she saw glimmers of hope in the way her team battled physically superior European foes.
“We went up against players in the middle of club seasons, and it was challenging at times,” Ji said while attending the FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy Tour at Starfield COEX Mall in southern Seoul. “I think we can match European teams skillwise. Once we begin our club seasons here and get into better form, I think we can be pretty competitive.”
At the World Cup, South Korea, ranked 15th, will be up against Germany (No. 2), Colombia (No. 27) and Morocco (No. 76) in Group H.
Choe agreed with Ji that playing at the Arnold Clark Cup allowed South Korea to learn from mistakes.
“Coach (Colin Bell) has been telling us not to be afraid of physical European players,” Choe said. “Though we didn’t bring home the results we wanted, it was still a valuable experience.”
Ji, Choe and their teammates will get to test themselves twice against World Cup-bound Zambia in friendly matches at home on April 7 and 11.
South Korea will be playing at their fourth World Cup and third in a row. They’ve advanced to the knockouts just once, in 2015 in Canada.
This year’s World Cup will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and will feature 32 nations for the first time.
South Korea will kick things off against 27th-ranked Colombia on July 25 in Sydney and then take on world No. 76 Morocco on July 30 in Adelaide.
South Korea will finish their group play against No. 2 Germany on Aug. 3 in Brisbane.
Source: Yonhap News Agency