Italy game is Korea's last chance to salvage a win at Arnold Clark Cup

Korean captain Kim Hye-ri reacts during an Arnold Clark Cup game against Belgium at the Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry, England on Sunday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea will face Italy in the final game of the 2023 Arnold Clark Cup on Wednesday as the Taeguk Ladies look to salvage one win from the round robin tournament after dropping back-to-back games to England and Belgium.

Korea joined England, Belgium and Italy at the invitational tournament in Britain last week as the second-highest ranked team on the official FIFA Women’s World Ranking, well below European champions England, but a few spots above both Italy and Belgium.

The tournament serves as an important warm-up event for Korea ahead of the 2023 Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup in the summer.

It is also a crucial chance for Korea to see how they actually compare to similarly-ranked European teams, especially because with so little intercontinental football over the past three years, the current FIFA rankings are generally considered to be fairly inaccurate.

Korea started off the tournament with what was always going to be a very tough game against hosts England.

The Lionesses, who will arrive in Australia-New Zealand as one of the definite tournament favorites, made short work of the Taeguk Ladies. Korea lost that game 4-0, but were left with two far more interesting fixtures to go.

Unfortunately for Korea, Belgium, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, also came out on top, winning 2-1 despite an early goal from Brighton & Hove Albion’s Lee Gum-min that briefly put the Taeguk Ladies in front.

With those two losses in the book, Korea will be looking to save some face and gain some confidence off the back of a win against Italy on Wednesday.

Like Korea, Italy dropped both of their early games in the tournament, losing 2-1 to Belgium and 2-1 to England. Italy also enter Wednesday’s game with a lot on the line — unlike Belgium, they have qualified for the 2023 World Cup.

Korea and Italy have very little recent head-to-head history, meeting just twice in the last decade. Italy emerged victorious on both occasions, wining 2-1 in a friendly in 2015 and 1-0 in a friendly in 2013.

Korea was without star midfielder Ji So-yun, the former Chelsea star widely considered one of the greatest international players ever to appear in England’s Women’s Super League, for the game against England.

Ji, who is the highest Korean national team goal scorer of all time across all levels of men’s and women’s football, did appear against Belgium, but head coach Colin Bell and the rest of the squad will be hoping to make better use of the star in the Italy game.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Cho So-hyun, the most capped Korean footballer of all time, is also out for the tournament with an injury.

Korea will face Italy at Ashton Game Stadium in Bristol at 4:45 p.m. on Wedesday, or at 1:45 a.m. in Korea.

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