(LEAD) S. Korea rally past New Zealand in women's football friendly

All News 20:14 November 27, 2021

(ATTN: ADDS photos, comments throughout)
By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Yonhap) -- Defender Lim Seon-joo headed in the winner on her 31st birthday, as South Korea defeated New Zealand 2-1 in their women's football friendly match on Saturday.

Midfielder Cho So-hyun gifted a perfect cross to Lim from the left side of the box in the 80th minute, and the veteran defender's header into the gaping net gave South Korea their sixth win in the 12th match against New Zealand.

Lim Seon-joo of South Korea (C) is mobbed by her teammates after scoring a goal against New Zealand in the teams' friendly football match at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 27, 2021, in this photo provided by the Korea Football Association. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The two countries will go at it again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, back at Goyang.

The visitors opened the scoring in the 25th minute on Jacqi Handi's header, set up by Ali Riley's cross that caught the South Korean defense napping.

But South Korea leveled the score about a dozen minutes into the second half, when Choe Yu-ri's loss cross intended for teammate Choo Hyo-joo rolled into the net off the leg of a New Zealand defender.

The home team took the lead for good in the 80th minute. Cho did all the hard work deep inside the box to set up Lim, who scored for the first time since August 2018.

"This is the greatest birthday present ever," Lim said with a smile after the match. "I've never scored on my birthday before. I didn't even know how to react to it at first."

New Zealand controlled the run of play in the first half, and Lim said the visitors were "more physical than we'd anticipated."

"We weren't able to have our ways on the field in the first half," Lim said. "For the second half, we wanted to be more aggressive and try to get our timing down to apply more pressure."

South Korea head coach Colin Bell said he wanted his team to "speed up the game" after the mediocre first half.

"All our actions in the second half were much faster and much more aggressive. We played some really good football, which was really pleasing," Bell said. "We outplayed them."

Ji So-yun of South Korea (L) and Ria Percival of New Zealand battle for the ball during their teams' friendly football match at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 27, 2021. (Yonhap)

South Korea scheduled these matches to prepare for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup, scheduled to begin in India in January.

South Korea have not yet won the continental tournament, which began in 1975. Their best performance to date is the third-place finish in 2003, behind North Korea and China.

"Everything that we're doing is like a pretournament training (for the Asian Cup). The goal is to set ourselves up for the Asian Cup," Bell said. "We have a lot of potential. It's just the question of the girls believing in themselves right from the first second of the match until the last second."

Choe Yu-ri of South Korea (L) is tackled by Betsy Hassett of New Zealand during their teams' friendly football match at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 27, 2021. (Yonhap)

At the Asian Cup, South Korea will face two-time defending champions Japan, along with Vietnam and Myanmar, in Group C.

There are three groups of four in the tournament. The top two teams from each group, plus the two-best third-place teams, will advance to the quarterfinals.

The top five nations at the Women's Asian Cup will qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while two more teams will end up in the intercontinental playoffs.

New Zealand will co-host the 2023 World Cup with Australia.