14th Asian Games Women's Soccer tournament [R]

The Asian games starts in a couple of weeks and the women's soccer tournament begins on October 2nd. In the first set of matches, China plays Chinese Taipei. That should be interesting. It will also be interesting to see the two Korea's play, and of course North Korea against China.

Here is the schedule from the Busan Asian Games website.

Football Women's
Date Time Group No Events SEX Venue
10/02 17:03 1 League - Korea : Vietnam W Changwon
10/02 17:03 2 League - Chinese Taipei : China W Busan (Gudeok)
10/02 19:23 3 League - Japan : D.P.R of Korea W Busan (Gudeok)
10/04 17:03 4 League - Japan : Vietnam W Changwon
10/04 17:03 5 League - Chinese Taipei : Korea W Yangsan
10/04 19:23 6 League - D.P.R of Korea : China W Changwon
10/07 17:03 7 League - Korea : Japan W Masan
10/07 17:03 8 League - China : Vietnam W Busan (Gudeok)
10/07 19:23 9 League - Chinese Taipei : D.P.R of Korea W Masan
10/09 17:03 10 League - Chinese Taipei : Vietnam W Yangsan
10/09 17:03 11 League - China : Japan W Changwon
10/09 19:03 12 League - D.P.R of Korea : Korea W Busan (Gudeok)
10/11 15:03 13 League - Vietnam : D.P.R of Korea W Changwon
10/11 15:03 14 League - Chinese Taipei : Japan W Masan
10/11 17:23 15 League - Korea : China W Changwon

http://www.busanasiangames.org/Eng/

 

The women's tounament begins later this week. The men's tournament is on. There is a thread for it in the Asia forum. There are numerous other sports. I will open up a thread in the Other Sports forum in a few minutes if it hasn't been created yet.

 

China 1: Chinese Taipei 0

Xie Caixia (someone whos name you will know in the future) scored the goal. Chinese Taipei has a good team and should be in the mix for the bronze medal. Sun Wen did play in the match, though not for the who 90.

North Korea 1: Japan 0

Jin Pyoi Hui scored for the North Koreans (who have a white flag on the Asian games site)

Korea 4: Viet Nam 0

Viet Nam is really the only team in this tournament that has no shot at a medal. Goals were scored by Hwang In Sun, Koak Mi He, Lee Ji Eun, and Cha Sung Mi. Koak also tallied 3 assists.

 

1. In Vietnamese, it is spelt Viet Nam. It is usually rendered as Vietnam in English.

2. Hong Kong field a separate team under the moniker Hong Kong, China. They do not have a team in the women's soccer field however.

 

Today's (October 4th) matchups

Japan v. Viet Nam
Chinese Taipei v. South Korea
North Korea v. China

Current Table

South Korea 1-0-0 3 pts 4-0
China 1-0-0 3 pts 1-0
North Korea 1-0-0 3 pts 1-0
Chinese Taipei 0-0-1 0 pts 0-1
Japan 0-0-1 0 pts 0-1
Viet Nam 0-0-1 0 pts 0-4

 

Rround 2 of League matches

Japan 3 Viet Nam 0

Otani Mio scored two for the Japanese and the Atlanta Beat's Sawa Homare scored the third to seal the victory.

South Korea 2 Chinese Taipei 1

South Korea took an important victory from Chinese Taipei 2-1. HONG Kyung Suk gave South Korea a halftime 1-0 lead. In the third minute of the second half, JUNG Jung Sook put another in the net for the hosts. Two minutes later, CHEN Shu Chiung knocked in one for Chinese Taipei. That would be it as South Korea held on for the last 40 minutes for the win. It puts South Korea in good shape to compete with Japan for the bronze. Chinese Taipei will need a win against Japan (convincingly) and get some help for a shot at the bronze.

China 0 North Korea 0

No one scored in the battle of Asia's women's soccer superpowers. This means, that unless either of these teams surrenders a point the rest of the way, the gold medal will be determined on goal difference.

South Korea 6 points
North Korea 4 points
China 4 points
Japan 3 points
Chinese Taipei 1 point
Viet Nam 0 points

 

I saw parts of the China-North Korea match, and frankly, neither team looked at their best. I don't think they will be beaten, but I have seen both play better. It will be interesting though as they now have to try to run up scores to try to get the gold medal.

 

Any ideas how the contest between China and North Korea for goal difference will turn out and who will win the bronze?

China has more goal scoring potential in my book than the North Koreans, who generally play a tougher defense. I don't think China or North Korea will get much of a challenge to their defenses, so I think China has the edge to win on goal difference. Both are +1 now.

South Korea drew first blood in the race for the bronze by beating Chinese Taipei. A victory over Japan this week will all but guarantee the South Koreans exactly that. I think, in fact, they will get that bronze with Japan and Chinese Taipei fighting for fourth and Viet Nam finishing a distant last.

 

Women's soccer scores from South Korea

Japan 1 South Korea 0

The Beat's own Sawa Homare scored what turned out to be the decisive goal in the 15th minute. Japan outshot South Korea 17-5 in the match.

China 4 Viet Nam 1

China came out of the gates in this one with a third minute goal by Ren Liping. 13 minutes later, Gao Hongxia netted a second talley for the Chinese. Quach Thanh Mai gave the underdogs a glimmer of hope with a goal in the 19th minute, but Ren Liping started the second half even more quickly than the started the first with a first minute goal, giving the Chinese a 3-1 lead. Bai Jie talled an insurance goal (which will help in the goal difference race with North Korea) in the 8th minute of the second half.

North Korea 1 Chinese Taipei 0

North Korea fell behind China on goal difference, only able to manage a 1-0 victory over Chinese Taipei. Ri Hyang Ok saved the honor of the North Koreans with a goal in the 55th minute, despite outshooting the Chinese 31-5 in the match and being outfouled 25-10.

As of right now:

China 7 points +4 GD
N. Korea 7 points +2 GD
Japan 6 points
S. Korea 6 points
Chinese Taipei 0 points
Viet Nam 0 points

 

Chinese Taipei 1 Viet Nam 1

Chinese Taipei needed a late goal from Chen Shu Chiung in the 88th minute to avoid a major upset in salvaging a 1-1 draw. Viet Nam took the lead in the 70th minute with a goal by Doan Thi Kim Chi. Despite the statistical edge held by the Chinese (shots 10-7; corners 8-2), the Chinese needed late minute heroics to avoid the upset. The draw does take Chinese Taipei out of medal contention.

China 2 Japan 2

In perhaps the upset of the tournament so far, Japan upset the Chinese by gaining a draw and all but assuring the Japanese of at least a bronze medal. Japan took a stunning 2-0 halftime lead on the strength of goals by Miyamoto Tomomi in the 19th minute and another by Atlanta Beat player Sawa Homare in the 28th minute. China had to scramble with two second half goals by the Washington Freedom's Bai Jie in the 48th and 56th minutes to tie the game up. China couldn't finish the comeback, and had to settle for the one point. China outshot Japan 21-6.

North Korea 2 South Korea 0

North Korea took first place with a 2-0 victory over the South Koreans. First half goals by Ri Hwang Ok (26th minute) and Jin Pyoi Hui (36th minute) gave the North Koreans a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The DPRK dominated the match, outshooting the ROK 21-5 while the flagless ones outcornered the Southerners 9-2.

Current Table

North Korea 10 points
China 8 points
Japan 7 points
South Korea 6 points
Chinese Taipei 1 point
Viet Nam 1 point

 

They spent too much on focusing on the established talent like Liu and Sun, and not enough on developing younger players. I hope the CFA has realized its mistake and will rectify it.

 

Final Match Day

North Korea 4 Viet Nam 0

North Korea totally dominated the only Southeast Asian entrants in the tournament with a 4-0 drubbing to clinch the gold medal. Jin Pyoi Hui scored two first half goals to give the Flagless Ones a 2-0 halftime lead. Ri Kim Suk and Yun Yong Hui each tallied a second half goal to provide the final 4-0 margin. The Vietnamese were outshot 23-1 and outcornered 17-0. North Korea had far more offside calls as well (12-1)

Japan 2 Chinese Taipei 0

Japan clinched a bronze medal with a 2-0 victory over Chinese Taipei. Two early first half goals three minutes apart provided the margin of victory for the Japanese. Kobayashi Yayoi scored in the 11th minute while Miyazaki Yuka scored three minutes later. Statistically, this was a one sided match as the Japanese outshout the Chinese 14-3 and had an 8-1 edge in corners. This was a very disappointing outing for Chinese Taipei as the come away without a victory.

China 4 South Korea 0

China took out its frustration at knowing it had no gold medal chance (the North Korean match was already finished by the time this one was played) by winning this one sided affair 4-0. Li Jie provided the only first hald scoring, netting a goal in the 14th minute. It would remain 1-0 until Zhao Lihong netted one for the Middle Kingdom in the 64th minute. Ren Liping tallied another four minutes later and Meng Jun closed out the scoring in the 90th minute. The Chinese outshot the Koreans 18-3 and held a 6-1 edge in corners.

Results

Gold: North Korea
Silver: China
Bronze: Japan
4th: South Korea
5th: Chinese Taipei
6th: Viet Nam