AFC Women's Asian Cup Group C Preview: Japan vs South Korea to Decide Top Spot, Vietnam Play Myanmar

A thriller is on the cards at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune when Japan and Korea Republic face off in their final AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 Group C tie on Thursday. Both teams enter Matchday 6 with six points to their names after wins against Vietnam and Myanmar. Japan are ahead on goal difference and only need to avoid defeat to top the group.

Korea Republic, however, will be all out to take down the two-time defending champions with head coach Colin Bell having worked on the mistakes identified in the win against Myanmar on Monday.

“I think we made a few unforced errors when going forward,” said Bell. “When trying to play as expansive as possible that transition will have to be excellent, the organisation when we’re attacking has to be very good. We’ve got a couple of situations where our organisations were a little bit off, but were able to recover quickly enough, and Myanmar weren’t able to finish anything.

“For the game against Japan, they’ve got much more quality and if we give them these kinds of invitations, they will take them. So our transition into defence has to be much faster. When we’re attacking, we need to make sure we do not lose our defensive structure.”

The two teams played to a goalless draw in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup but their most recent meeting was in the 2019 EAFF E-1 Championship, with Japan coming out 1-0 victors.

“We know Japan are a very strong team, technically really good. World class players with two players I know very well in the German Bundesliga, (Saki) Kumagai and (Mana) Iwabuchi.

“It’s a big test for us, but we need to be competing against the best to see how far we’ve come and what we need to do, in a situation where we want to try to do anything we can. If we manage that, then it puts us in a good position in the quarter-finals because we’ve won the group. It’s a game that we need to focus on.

“We will take the lessons we’ve learned from our own game, and lessons from Japan. It’s going to be an exciting match.”

Korea Republic, however, will be left guessing as to who might feature in Japan’s starting 11 with head coach Futoshi Ikeda utilising a total of 21 players in the last two matches.

The depth of talent in the defending champions’ squad is unquestionable, but Ikeda wants to tune his players a little bit more.

“I’m glad with the three points from this match,” said Ikeda after the game against Vietnam. “However, we made a lot of mistakes, so we will need to improve on those points for the next match.

“The next match against Korea Republic will definitely be more difficult than our previous two. I want to manage our players’ condition so that they can play.”

VIETNAM vs MYANMAR

Vietnam and Myanmar will put everything on the line in their final Group C tie on Thursday as they look to have a chance at making the quarter-finals. The top two teams from each group, along with two best third-placed sides will make the next round, which promises an exciting match-up when the two Southeast Asian rivals clash at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Vietnam have a marginal edge, having conceded one goal less but will be wary of a Myanmar side they are very familiar with.

Their most recent meeting was in the Final Round of the Women’s Olympic Qualifiers in 2020, but Vietnam head coach Mai Duc Chung believes Myanmar hold the upper hand this time around as his squad has been heavily affected by COVID-19.

“We will still keep fighting and prepare everything for the last match, it’s very important,” said Mai.

“I would, however, say that Myanmar are more lucky compared to us because they were not affected by COVID, but we will still do our best to get the three points.”

Both teams opted for a defensive approach against Japan and Korea Republic but Mai hinted at a complete change in playstyle against Myanmar.

“Japan is one of the top ranked teams in the world, and are very strong. So our players played mostly defence and only had a few opportunities to score.

“When playing against two strong opponents, Vietnam and Myanmar both had to play defensively, but when we play our final match, both teams might play an attacking game. We’re about the same level in Southeast Asia, so we understand our opponents well.”

Myanmar, meanwhile, showed significant improvement from their opening day 5-0 loss to Japan to hold Korea Republic to a goalless first half on Matchday Two, but a drop in concentration saw them concede twice after the break.

Assistant head coach Bo Bo Aung said his side won’t be lacking confidence when facing their regional rivals in Navi Mumbai.

“We worked on our mistakes from the match with Japan, and the head coach also gave some instructions,” said Bo. “Our performance wasn’t bad, but we conceded goals when our concentration was low.

“There’s no pressure. We’ve already faced the strongest teams, so we’ve got enough confidence for the upcoming match.”