Taeguk Ladies end friendly series with big 5-0 win

Lee Geum-min takes a penalty during a friendly with Zambia at Yongin Mir Stadium in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Korean women’s national team thrashed Zambia 5-0 in a second friendly on Tuesday, showing a clear improvement on last week's 5-2 win as the squad looks to shape up ahead of the Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup in July.

Tuesday’s game at Yongin Mir Stadium in Yongin, Gyeonggi was the second clash in just five days, with the first game having ended with a 5-2 victory for Korea.

Head coach Colin Bell made a few changes to the starting XI from the previous friendly, as he picked goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul over Kim Jung-mi. Park Eun-sun, who scored the team’s last goal in Friday’s friendly as a substitute, also started Tuesday.

The Taeguk Ladies gave a powerful all-round display and opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with Lee Geum-min scoring a penalty from a foul committed by Banda Barbra.

Korea extended that lead two minutes later when Park Eun-sun slotted in a ball after beating goalkeeper Musonda Catherine.

Korea did not stop there and played even more aggressively in the second half. Lee Geum-min scored her second in the 53rd minute, as she managed a shot that started from a free kick, making it 3-0.

Lee then finished her hat trick in the 77th minute after converting another penalty, before Park managed her second in the 89th minute with a header to end the game at 5-0.

“I am very satisfied,” Bell said in Korean during a postgame press conference. “The performance as well as the result was solid. I am happy about the 5-0 win.”

Tuesday’s game was the first time Korea managed a clean sheet since a friendly with New Zealand last November.

“We are a team capable of creating a lot of goal-scoring chances, so we need to use those chances well and also make the defense firm,” Bell said.

The Taeguk Ladies' two wins over Zambia come despite the absence of Ji So-yun — the most experienced player with 144 caps and Korea's top goal scorer of all time regardless of gender or competition — excluded from both friendlies due to an injury.

Cho So-hyun, on the other hand, played both matches and tied for the most caps with Ji after Tuesday’s game, reclaiming, or at least sharing, a crown that she used to hold before injury sidelined her while Ji racked up the caps.

The Taeguk Ladies will gather again for a final training session in June ahead of the upcoming World Cup, where they will play Morocco, Colombia and Germany in the group stage.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]