Korean female soccer team to face Spain to advance to round of 16 teams

The Korean national female soccer team, which almost won its second Group E qualifying match for the 2015 World Cup finals in Canada, will take on challenge to advance to the round of 16 strongest teams in its third, final match. Team Korea will face Spain in a match that will determine its fate at 8 a.m. (Korea time) on Thursday.

Korea and Spain are tying one win and one loss overall. But Spain is leading Korea in goal difference (Spain – 1, Korea – 2). If Korea, the lowest ranking team in Group E, beats Spain, and second-ranked Costa Rica (two draws) loses to or ties with top-ranked Brazil (two wins) in their third match, Korea will advance to the round of 16 teams as the second-ranked team in the group. If both Korea and Cost Rica win in their third round matches, Korea as the third-ranked team in its group will compete with the third-ranked team in another group in its bid to secure a wild card to advance to the round of 16 teams.

Spain tied Costa Rica 1-1 in the first match, but led the latter in ball occupancy ratio with 56 to 44, and overwhelmed the other in the number of shootings with 19 versus 3. Korea also led Costa Rica in ball occupancy ratio with 53 to 47, and posted a total of 16 shootings.

If Korea is to win the match, Ji So-yeon (Chelsea) should revive in performance. Ji had a goal through penalty kick in the match against Costa Rica, but failed to score goals in four shooting opportunities.

Attention is also focusing on whether Park Eun-sun (Rosyanka), who is expected to sway the opponent team’s defense in front of Ji, will play or not. Park, who is recovering from knee injury, will have her name in the list of replacement players. Another variable is to what extent Park will recover her sense of play in practical matches after suffering injury in March.

For Spain, Veronica Boquete (FFC Frankfurt), who will be positioned right behind a one-top striker, is the centerpiece of its offense. She had seven goals in 21 matches of the German female Bundesliga this season. Coach Yoon Deok-yeo of the Korean national team said, “Boquete is a player that Korea should be highly wary of. But we will make more preparations on the targets for our team’s offense.”

Kwon Ha-neul (military athletic team Sangmu), who has played 96 A matches through Tuesday, will become the first Korean player to join the Century Club (player who plays in 100 A matches or more), if Korea advances to the semifinals. Kwon, who first became a national team member at age of 18 in 2006, has had 15 goals over the past nine years.

elegant@donga.com