The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
Korea Republic
Late Korean Goals Spoil Ferns' 250th
by Jeremy Ruane
The Football Ferns' hopes of marking their 250th "A" international with a celebratory victory were dashed by Korea Republic in their Cup of Nations clash at Melbourne's AAMI Park on March 6, where the Asian team scored twice in the last sixteen minutes to clinch a 2-0 win and second place in the tournament, which was won by host nation Australia.
Rosie White revealed the Football Ferns' intentions just two minutes into the contest, piling on the pressure to force a mistake from Cho So-Hyun and only being prevented from latching onto the loose ball on the edge of the penalty area by the covering challenge of Lee Eun-Mi.
Korea instantly upped their game, and with Lee Young-Ju calling the tune, began to cause their Kiwi opponents all sorts of bother. Only a vital clearance off the toes of Lee Geum-Min by Ali Riley prevented the striker from capitalising on an eighth minute opportunity, while she featured in another two minutes later from which the Asians came desperately close to opening the scoring.
Erin Nayler punched out Lee Mi-Na's delivery into the penalty area following a corner. Emma Kete, whose fiftieth appearance for the Football Ferns this was, executed the perfect air-shot in her attempt to add distance to Nayler's effort, inviting Geum-Min to lunge at the ball.
Meikayla Moore had precisely the same idea at the same moment, and the two ended up inadvertently kicking each other rather than the ball, which broke kindly for Yeo Min-Ji to let fly. The diving figure of Nayler plunged to her right to turn the ball round the post.
A quiet word from Football Ferns coach Tom Sermanni soon afterwards changed the pattern of play, with Betsy Hassett taking on the task of keeping Young-Ju quiet. That she faded into obscurity for much of the rest of the match, to the point where she was withdrawn before the hour, tells you how effective Hassett's work was - a grand marking job.
It also allowed the Football Ferns to establish a platform upon which they began to influence proceedings. White and Annalie Longo worked well on the left in the 24th minute to engineer an opening for Riley to deliver a cross. It was intended for Kete, but was too near goalkeeper Kim Jeong-Mi for the striker to exploit it.
Five minutes later, Jeong-Mi plucked a Ria Percival corner off the head of Sarah Gregorius, who disappeared from the fray soon afterwards having aggravated her hamstring injury with the run she made to earn the set-piece opportunity.
Her departure was preceded by a fine chance for the Koreans, which was engineered by Han Chae-Rin. She turned Percival every which way en route to the by-line, from where she found Geum-Min darting in between defenders to meet the ball at the near post. Thankfully for the Football Ferns, she stabbed it wide of the target.
A timely Rebekah Stott tackle foiled Min-Ji soon afterwards, while hesitance from Nayler was nearly exploited by Lee So-Dam in the 33rd minute, after Moore mistimed an attempt to head clear.
Seven minutes before half-time, the best chance of the half materialised at the opposite end of the ground, although the spadework was done on New Zealand's side of half-way.
The irrepressible figure of White brilliantly evaded two challenges before sending a measured through ball into the stride of Kete, who, on this occasion, timed her run perfectly to evade the offside trap.
Goalwards she charged, a defender on her heels all the way, and the prospect of marking her fiftieth cap with a goal looming larger by the stride. Jeong-Mi had other ideas, however, blocking the fifteen yarder well with her legs, much to Kete's frustration.
That was the Football Ferns' last chance of the half, and they managed to survive a few hairy moments in the dying stages of the first forty-five minutes, the most noteworthy of these being a wild clearance from Nayler which landed straight at the feet of Geum-Min with the 'keeper well out of goal.
Much to Nayler's relief, Geum-Min was so startled by this unexpected opening that she instantly coughed up possession to Moore, who wasted no time in clearing her lines.
The first half of the second spell was something of an arm wrestle, to which great credit should be afforded the Football Ferns as they went toe-to-toe with the Koreans, showing great composure in their play and carving out the few opportunities of note
|
during this period.
The first of them materialised in the 54th minute. Stott fed Longo, who evaded a couple of opponents before feeding White, who powered past two more into the penalty before sending a low cross zooming across the bows of the incoming figures of substitutes Aimee Phillips and Paige Satchell.
Longo, White and Satchell then featured in an attack which culminated in Korean defender Mi-Na appearing to handle the ball in the area. The Football Ferns appealed confidently for a penalty, but Australian referee Rebecca Durcau wasn't remotely interested in acquiescing to their requests.
Cue another opening, in the 68th minute. White, not surprisingly - she's probably been the Football Ferns' most consistently-performed player over the course of this tournament - was the instigator, linking with Stott, who was up-field in support of the attack.
Her pass invited Satchell to stretch her legs, and into the penalty area she stampeded before lashing a low shot - or was it a cross? - in the general direction of goal, but out of reach of the clutches of Jeong-Mi. Phillips was racing in at the near post, and the ball skimmed off her shins and past the far post. Had she pulled the trigger …
0-0 it remained, however, but not for long. The Koreans had introduced two of their genuine heavyweights to the match by this point in time, and in the 74th minute, they combined to open the scoring.
Moon Mi-Ra's jinking run culminated in a pass to Ji So-Yun which allowed her to turn Stott every which way before battering a twenty-yarder beyond the stranded figure of Nayler, who didn't even dive as the ball found the far corner of the net.
The Football Ferns' response was instant, with Longo leading the charge before feeding Phillips on the right, from where she delivered a cross which So-Hyun appeared to handle. Again, Kiwi appeals resounded, and once more, referee Durcau wasn't interested in their bids for the chance to restore parity from twelve yards.
Korea looked to pounce on the counter-attack, with Mi-Ra an increasingly prominent figure in the game's later stages. On this occasion, she set up Jang Chang for a shot which careered over the bar, while only smart defending from Percival, ten minutes from time, prevented Geum-Min from latching onto a Mi-Ra pass and giving Nayler problems at her near post.
Still the Koreans pressed, with Jang Sol-Gi's ball over the top picking out fellow substitute Son Hwa-Yeon, who directed a shot straight at Nayler in the 83rd minute. But when the Asian nation attacked again four minutes later, they clinched victory.
Mi-Ra was again the architect, linking with Hwa-Yeon, whose shot from the edge of the area forced Nayler into a parried save. Mi-Ra, following in, was first to the loose ball and stabbed it past the recovering goalkeeper and the covering defender's to clinch the Korean's 2-0 win.
They weren't satisfied with two goals, however. Nayler prevented Riley from putting through her own net moments later, as the Football Ferns' captain looked to prevent Mi-Ra's teasing cross from reaching Geum-Min on the far post.
Riley then survived Korean penalty claims after clashing with Geum-Min, before Nayler kept out efforts from Sol-Gi and Geum-Min before the final whistle, both attacks having been instigated by So-Yun, the Koreans' most prolific striker.
The introduction of So-Yun and Mi-Ra around the hour mark was crucial to the outcome of this match, a level of experienced bench strength which the Football Ferns currently don't boast due to injury, with the likes of Amber Hearn and Hannah Wilkinson presently recovering from ACL setbacks. Abby Erceg was another player sidelined for this encounter.
The Football Ferns next gather in Majorca in early April for two internationals against Norway, who will look to win the Algarve Cup for the first time in twenty-one years when taking on Poland in the final overnight.
Korea Rep.: J. Kim; S. Park, D. Shin, S. Cho, E. Lee (S. Jang, 74); S. Lee (J. Chang, 46), M. Lee (H. Hong, 76), Y. Lee (S. Ji, 58), M. Yeo (booked, 48) (M. Moon, 65); G. Lee, C. Han (H. Son, 59)
F'ball Ferns: Nayler; Percival (Bott, 82), Stott, Moore, Riley; Hassett (Cleverley, 82), Bowen (Duncan, 64), Longo; White (Rood, 86), Gregorius (Phillips, 34), Kete (Satchell, 46)
Referee: Rebecca Durcau (Australia)
|