스포츠토토World Cup Group H final against Germany on March 3
Park Eun-sun’s fixer-uppers take note
Members of the South Korea women’s soccer team train at Spencer Park in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on Feb. 2. Brisbane/Yonhap
Decision-poor women’s soccer team, who will find the back of the net?
The South Korean women’s national soccer team, led by coach Colleen Bell, will go all out against Germany in the final Group H match of the 2023 FIFA World Cup at Brisbane Stadium in Queensland, Australia, at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Coming off of a pair of tough group stage losses to Colombia (0-2) and Morocco (0-1), South Korea will have their work cut out for them against Germany, the second-ranked team in the FIFA rankings. But pride won’t allow them to go out of the tournament scoreless, so the players are determined.
“We will show all our capabilities tomorrow that we haven’t shown so far,” Bell said at a press conference at Brisbane Stadium on Tuesday.
In theory, the Socceroos need to beat Germany by five goals or more to advance to the round of 16. They also need Colombia to lose to Morocco. Germany is also expected to come out strong, as they will be in trouble if they lose.
For this reason, South Korea’s realistic goal is to keep a clean sheet.
South Korea had not finished a previous World Cup without scoring a goal until 2003 in the United States, 2015 in Canada, and 2019 in France. In 2003, they lost three games and were eliminated in the group stage, but scored one goal in their final game against Norway (1-7 LW), and four years ago in France, they lost three games but saved their pride with a goal in their final game against Norway (1-2 LW).
Head coach Colin Bell. Brisbane/Yonhap
Commentator Kim Dae-gil said, “There are not enough objective conditions to be greedy. It would be nice to finish the tournament with at least a goal,” said Kim Dae-gil.
Park Eun-sun (Seoul Metropolitan Government) remains the favorite to show South Korea’s decisiveness. Park, who has played in both of Korea’s previous group stage matches, has the height and strength to deal with crosses from the left and right, but has been unable to capitalize on her lack of quality passes. He also has a good shot.
There is also excitement about the young blood in the squad. Mixed-race player Casey Eugene Fair (PDA), the gritty Kang Chae-rim (Incheon Hyundai Steel), Chun Garam (Hwacheon KSPO), and Bae Ye-bin (Widok University) are all players who can create chances.
Looking ahead to the final, Bell said, “Our players have a lot of potential. We need to overcome the tension and pressure of the international stage. We need to forget our mistakes and mistakes of the past and play to the best of our abilities in the remaining games.”