Korea march into second Philippines friendly on back of 3-0 victory

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Korea march into second Philippines friendly on back of 3-0 victory

Published: 07 Apr. 2024, 12:09 Updated: 07 Apr. 2024, 16:10

Korea's Jang Sel-gi, right, scores the team's third goal in the second half of their friendly against the Philippines at Icheon Stadium in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Friday. [NEWS1]

The Korean national women’s football team will meet the Philippines in a second friendly on Monday in Icheon, Gyeonggi, days after winning their first match on Friday 3-0 thanks to a late-game breakthrough.

The Monday match at Icheon City Stadium will be the final stop on the Korean women’s team schedule, managed by Colin Bell, until the next FIFA international break in June when they travel to the United States for two friendlies against the U.S. women’s national team.

The Philippines, who sit 19 spots below Korea on the FIFA Women’s World Rankings, held the home side during the first half on Friday, their defense blocking multiple attempts on goal — including shots by Angel City’s Casey Phair and Birmingham City’s Cho So-hyun.

Although Korea kept possession for more than two-thirds of the game, it wasn’t until the final 20 minutes of the game that Korea overpowered the visitors to secure their win.

It was Birmingham City’s Choe Yu-ri who broke the 0-0 deadlock to put Korea on the scoreboard, capitalizing on a bad pass from Philippines defender Jessika Cowart to put the ball past goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel and into the middle of the net.

Korea's Choe Yu-ri scores the first goal of the match against the Philippines at Icheon Stadium in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Friday. [NEWS1]

Choe had come onto the pitch as a substitute for Chun Ga-ram of Hwacheon KSPO, who had drawn a yellow card for a bad foul in the first half, right at the start of the second half.

Just three minutes later after Choe scored the opener to put Korea in the lead, Seattle Reign’s Ji So-yun got No. 2, taking a free kick from the left of the penalty box and knocking the ball off the goalpost and into the back of the net.

Korea's Ji So-yun celebrates after scoring a goal during the friendly against the Philippines at Icheon Stadium in Icheon, Gyeonggi on Friday. [YONHAP]

Korea then ended things in style, getting a third and final goal in the 88th minute.

Moon Mi-ra of Suwon FC got the ball from after a long pass from the midfield down the right side of the pitch and knocked the ball behind her to a speeding Jang Sel-gi. The Philippines’ McDaniel got gloves on Jang’s strike, but the veteran Korea midfielder was quick to knock the loose ball into the middle of an empty net.

Friday marked another big win for Korea over the Philippines. Korea last beat the Philippines 5-1 at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September to seal their spot in the quarterfinals.

Son Hwa-yeon, who scored a hat-trick in that Asian Games match, was absent from the lineup on Friday, as were her regular-pick Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels teammates Lee Mi-na and Kim Hye-ri, who was on the final roster released ahead of the match but was marked non-playing on Friday.

Red Angels’ midfielder Choo Hyo-joo and goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi were present, however, and part of the starting XI.

It was also a night to remember for veteran player Jeon Ga-eul, the second all-time top scorer for the women’s national team, who was honored in a retirement ceremony at the game.

Korea will look to secure another victory on Monday and continue their winning streak against the Philippines, having now won all five of their head-to-clashes since 2008.

The Philippines, managed by Mark Torcaso, have yet to win a match in 2024. They lost to Finland 4-0 in a friendly in February ahead of a four-team invitational tournament in Spain where they lost 2-0 to Scotland and 1-0 to Slovenia.

So far this year, Korea has two wins and one loss. They beat the Czech Republic 2-1 and lost to Portugal in friendlies in Europe in February.

Neither the Philippines nor Korea has a competitive schedule this year, having both failed to qualify for this summer’s Paris Olympics.

Monday’s match begins at 7 p.m. at Icheon Stadium.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]