North Korea’s women’s soccer team will try to win its first Asian Games gold medal in nine years with a victory over Uzbekistan.
North Korea defeated Uzbekistan 8-0 in the women’s soccer semifinals at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Wednesday at the Shanghai Sports Center Stadium in China. After scoring three goals in the first half to take an early lead, North Korea scored a relay goal at the start of the second half and cruised to victory.
North Korea was outclassed by Uzbekistan. North Korea, who were outclassed in terms of objective power, had no trouble getting on the board first, scoring just eight minutes into the game. Hong Sung-ok, who had made a breakthrough into the box, slotted home a ground ball cross from the left side for the first goal.
After scoring early, North Korea added to their lead in the 16th minute on a penalty kick. Ahn Myong-song, who collected a long ball from the back, was tripped by Peruzha Bobokhuzaeva inside the opponent’s box. The Uzbek players claimed they only touched the ball, but it was not accepted. It was a foul that weighed heavily in favor of a penalty kick, even in slow motion.
North Korea’s Kim Kyong Yong stepped up to take the spot kick and made it 2-0. North Korea continued to pound Uzbekistan and finished 3-0 in first-half stoppage time when Ahn Myong-song scored her first of many goals.
North Korea added a fourth goal just 30 seconds into the second half when Kim Kyong Yong scored a difficult goal with a scissor kick from a cross. Five minutes into the second half, Ri Hak made it 5-0 with a deflected shot from mid-range. The North Koreans added a sixth goal in the 18th minute of the second half to complete their hat trick, and the scoring continued until the final whistle to seal the eight-goal victory.스포츠토토
North Korea beat South Korea in the quarterfinals of the tournament. After Cambodia withdrew from the tournament in the group stage, North Korea only had to play Singapore in a tension-free quarterfinal. Heading into the quarterfinals, North Korea also benefited from an extra day of rest compared to South Korea, who played all three games in the group stage. In addition, South Korea had to accept an unfortunate defeat in this match, as Son Hwa-yeon was sent off for a questionable call.
After the game, South Korea’s head coach Colin Bell made an unusual complaint, saying, “I question whether we had a good referee for such an important game. We need more professional referees for a tournament like this,” and “Who made this system, let 16 countries compete fairly in four groups?”
North Korea will be trying to win gold for the first time in nine years, after winning in Busan 2002, Doha 2006 and Incheon 2014. As the finalist, North Korea will face the winner of the China-Japan match on June 6.