The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women’s World Cup 2023 Australia-New Zealand is underway.
The ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand for the first time ever, expanding the field to 32 nations. The opening match will take place on April 20 at 4 p.m. ET between New Zealand and Norway.
Teams will be divided into eight groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the round of 16. The final will be held on August 20 in Sydney, Australia.
South Korea was knocked out in the group stage at the 2003 and 2019 tournaments, with the best result coming in the round of 16 at the 2015 tournament in Canada. The team did not advance past the group stage at the 2019 tournament in France, where they were swept in three games.
Colleen Bell’s side have been drawn in Group H alongside Germany, Colombia and Morocco. The FIFA World Rankings for the women’s national teams in Group H are 17th for South Korea, 2nd for Germany, 25th for Colombia, and 72nd for Morocco.
Reaching the round of 16 is the primary goal… ‘first up’ is Colombia
South Korea will face Colombia on July 25, Morocco on July 30, and Germany on August 3. The best-case scenario for South Korea is to beat Colombia and Morocco and meet Germany without the pressure of a ‘what if’ scenario.
To do so, it is crucial to get a first-round match against Colombia, who are expected to fight for the second spot in the group. “We are only thinking about winning the first game against Colombia,” Bell said in his departure press conference, emphasizing the importance of winning, “even if we don’t play well, we have to get a result.”
Colombia will also be focused on the match against South Korea. Colombia controversially played an exhibition match against Ireland on April 15, which was so rough that their opponents abandoned the game due to the risk of injury.
In that game, the Colombians engaged in a series of rough tackles that sent an Irish player to the hospital during the match. At the time, Ireland’s head coach Vera Powe criticized Colombia, saying, “I was afraid the players were going to get hurt,” and that it was “the first time in my 47 years of football as a player and manager that I’ve ever seen that happen.”
Colombia is expected to bring a much more physical approach to their match against South Korea in the knockout stages. South Korea will need to be prepared for this. 토토사이트
Already in their 30s, the ‘golden generation’ of women’s soccer… The final challenge
South Korea’s goal is to make it past the round of 16 and into the quarterfinals, their best ever finish. To achieve this, the team has had more than three years to build a team with a clear direction since Bell was hired in October 2019 after the last tournament.
The biggest strength is that the ‘new structure’ has worked well. South Korean women’s soccer caused a stir in 2010 when they finished third at the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany and won the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago the same year.
Ji So-yeon, Cho So-hyun, Kim Hye-ri, and Lim Sun-joo have now played more than 100 A matches and are now in their 30s and leading the senior national team. ‘Eldest sister’ goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi and striker Park Eun-sun also played in Korea’s first World Cup, in 2003 in the United States.