Asian cup offensive

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Asian cup offensive

Ji So-yun takes a penalty against Vietnam in the opening game of the 2022 Asian Cup at Shri Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India on Jan. 21. [YONHAP]

Ji So-yun takes a penalty against Vietnam in the opening game of the 2022 Asian Cup at Shri Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India on Jan. 21. [YONHAP]

 
The Korea JoongAng Daily's holiday TV guide highlights all the best sports to watch over the long Seollal holiday.
 
The Korean national women’s football team will start the knockout stage of the 2022 Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday, with the tournament set to continue throughout the holiday week with the final on Feb. 6.
 
As of press time, Korea is yet to play their final game of the group stage — against Japan on Thursday evening — making it very difficult to predict what the footballing landscape will look like for the Taeguk Ladies next week.
 
Both Korea and Japan will qualify for Sunday’s quarterfinals, although the winner of Thursday’s game will face a far easier route to the semifinals.  
 
Should Korea beat Japan, they will top the group and face the third-place team from either Group A or Group B in the quarterfinals. If they lose, however, they will come second and will almost definitely face Australia, realistically the tournament favorites, in the quarters.
 
Korea’s performance at the Asian Cup has been led by Chelsea’s Ji So-yun, with three goals as of press time.  
 
Ji, Korea’s all-time top goal scorer across both genders and all competitions, is joined on the national squad by the Taeguk Ladies’ two other Women’s Super League stars: Tottenham Hotspur’s Cho So-hyun and Brighton & Hove’s Lee Geum-min, who scored Korea’s only other goal in the first two games.
 
The Taeguk Ladies have also been battling with a Covid-19 outbreak after a number of players and coaches tested positive after landing in India last week. Korea has still been able to field 13 players, the minimum required to continue competing, so the outbreak doesn’t appear to have impacted the team too badly.
 
Regardless of which semifinal Korea end up playing in, the game will be played at either Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India or DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, India at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, or at 5 p.m. in Korea.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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