On September 30th in Beijing, the drums of the Asian Games women's soccer quarterfinals were beating, and Asia's top team returned to the field with a renewed vigor. This force is the women's soccer team from North Korea. During the three years of silence, this team held back due to external factors, and now, they have come out on the stage of the Asian Games, beating the South Korean team by a score of 4-1, showing unparalleled strength.
Despite few international appearances, the North Korean women's soccer team has always remained at the top of Asia. However, a long hiatus has seen them slip down the rankings for a while. But at the 2023 Asian Games, not only did the DPRK women's soccer team not stray far from the center of soccer, their tactical layout and individual player skills were at their peak. In the group stage, they beat Singapore in back-to-back matches with scores of 7-0 and 10-0, easily advancing to the knockout stage. Meanwhile, the South Korean team, despite its recent rapid progress, is still unable to hide its heritage as a traditional Asian powerhouse.
Staggeringly, the average age of the DPRK women's soccer team is only 22.3 years old, with a significantly younger lineup. The attacking triangle of Kim Kyung-young, Hong Sung-ok and Yen Sung-myung, as well as the midfield of Kim Ok, Lee Hak and Choo Hyo-shin hand in hand, are joined by a sturdy defense of Lee Hye-kyung, Wee Jung-sin, Lee Myung-kim and Lee Kim-hyang, and the goalkeeper, Kim Eun-hui. On the contrary, the South Korean team, with an average age of up to 30 years old, has a relatively aging lineup. South Korea's forwards are led by Son Hwa-ran, Choi Lee Lee and Park Eun-sun, with Cheon Ja-ran, Ji Sau-ran and Kim Eun-ha in the midfield, and a backline of Jang Seok-ki, Kim Eun-ri, Choo Hyo-joo and Shim Jin-yeon, with Kim Jung-mi in goal.
The match had its ups and downs. In the 10th minute, the DPRK women's soccer team was unlucky to have an own goal and fell behind 0-1. However, in the 19th minute, Lee Hak, the center of the midfield, scored to equalize the score. In the 40th minute, Korea was down a man when Son Hwa-ran was sent off with a red card. In the 81st minute, the DPRK women's soccer team unleashed a mercurial attacking frenzy, with a goal by Yen Ming-sung helping them to a 2-1 lead. In the final moments, Wei Jung-Shin assisted Lee Hak to extend the lead and give the DPRK Women's Soccer Team a 3-1 lead. Kim Kyung-Young added a second goal in the 90th+4th minute of extra time to seal a 4-1 win over Korea and a strong run to the semifinals.
The semi-final opponent has been decided to be the Uzbekistan women's soccer team. Although the opponent's strength is limited and ranked 50th, the DPRK women's soccer team has been ranked in the top ten in the world, which means that the result of the semi-final is almost a foregone conclusion. The outstanding performance of the DPRK women's soccer team has undoubtedly sounded the alarm for the national soccer team. In the past, the national soccer team often used the lack of experience in international matches as an excuse for their poor performance, but the DPRK women's soccer team has not played any international matches for three years but has been able to explode quickly, which fully proves the importance of physical training.
