With a young squad, Thailand suffered a heavy defeat against South Korea in the opening match of the second qualifying round of the 2024 Paris Olympic women's football in Asia.
*Goals: Moondong 90'+3 – Phair 33' 56' 66', Ga-ram 36' 49' 75', Chae-rim 39' 54', Lee Geum-min 68', Moon Mi-ra 72'.
Similar to the 19th Asian Games, Thailand continued to use a young squad to participate in the international tournament with an average age of 19.4. Their squad has 16 U21 players, including three born in 2007: Achiraya Yingsakul, Rinyaphat Moondong and Pichayatida Manowang.
Thailand’s goal is to give young players the opportunity to compete to build a new generation of players. Meanwhile, South Korea wants to win a ticket to the Paris Olympics so they send their strongest squad with Casey Phair – the striker who set the record for the youngest player to play at the World Cup in July at 16 years and 26 days in a 0-2 group stage loss to Colombia.
Thai midfielder Achiraya Yingsakul (No. 6) will not turn 16 until December 13, 2023. Photo: FAT
The striker of American and Korean descent also shined against Thailand in the match at Xiamen Egret Stadium in China on the afternoon of October 26.
South Korea controlled the game but failed to score in the first 30 minutes. In the 33rd minute, Casey Phair turned the game around with a shot from inside the box. She then scored two more goals in the 56th and 66th minutes to complete her hat-trick.
Not to be outdone by his juniors, Chun Ga-ram, 21, also scored a hat-trick in the 36th, 49th and 75th minutes. In between, Kang Chae-rim scored a brace, followed by substitutes Lee-Geum-min and Moon Mi-ra. In the third minute of injury time in the second half, Rinyaphat Moondong scored the only goal for Thailand.
This is not the heaviest defeat of Thai women's football, as they lost 0-15 to North Korea in 1998. Meanwhile, the biggest victory of South Korea's women's football was 19-0 against the Northern Mariana Islands in 2009.
South Korea has climbed to the top of Group B with three points. In the next two matches, they will face two stronger opponents, North Korea and host China, on October 29 and November 1, respectively. With this group, Thailand is considered a "points warehouse", even an opportunity for opponents to take advantage of scoring many goals to compete for goal difference and compete for first place.
The second round of the women's football qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Asia includes 12 teams divided into three groups. The teams play a round-robin, with the top three teams and the best second-placed team advancing to the third round. The four teams are then divided into two pairs to play home and away matches. The two winners will represent Asia at the 2024 Olympics.
Starting lineup
Thailand: Tiffany Sornpao, Supapron Intaraprasit, Kanjanaporn Saengkoon, Thanchanok Chuenarom, Parichat Thongrong, Natcha Kaewanta, Achiraya Yingsakul, Pluemjai Sontisawat, Pattanaran Aupachai, Alisa Rukpinij, Thanakon Phonkham
Korea: Kim Jung-mi, Lee Eun-young, Kim Hye-ri, Shim Seo-yeon, Choo Hyo-joo, Chun Ga-ram, Ji So-yun, Kang Chae-rim, Jeon Eun-ha, Casey Phair.
Hieu Luong
Source link
Comment (0)