Set to meet Japan in the quarterfinals
Suddenly changed bracket without any notice
Cambodia withdrew from the tournament
By Kim Jin-yup (Reporter) = As the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games nears its opening ceremony, it has been confirmed that the women’s soccer tournament bracket has been changed without any notice.
The women’s team, led by head coach Colleen Bell, held their final training session at the National Training Center (NFC) in Paju on the morning of the 18th to prepare for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The team was available to the media before departing for Hangzhou on the 19th. We also heard from the players about their preparations.
Ji So-yeon, the ‘Ace’, said, “If we finish first in the group, we will meet Japan, but I’m not pressured. I think it will be more pressure if we don’t do our thing,” she said, showing her confidence in facing Japan.
Ji-so-yeon’s reasoning was that if South Korea topped the group, they would meet the first-place team in Group D. The first-place team in Group D would be Japan. Japan is considered the favorite to top Group D.
But suddenly, the bracket changed. Initially, women’s soccer at the Asian Games was scheduled to feature 17 teams, with three teams each in Groups A through C and four teams in Groups D through E, but this was suddenly changed.
According to the Khmer Times, Cambodia’s women’s soccer team withdrew from the competition due to difficulties in organizing players.
As a result, Group C, consisting of North Korea, Singapore, and Cambodia, will now consist of two teams, North Korea and Singapore, instead of three. The teams and groupings listed on the tournament website also do not include Cambodia in Group C.
In addition, the schedule on the tournament website explains that the first game of the Women’s Group C on the 21st is canceled, and North Korea and Singapore will play two games on the 24th and 27th.
This appears to be the reason for the change in the quarterfinal tournament schedule. According to the current schedule, the winner of Group E, South Korea, will play either the winner of Group D or the winner of Group C.
This means that if Japan finishes second in Group D, as Ji-so-yeon said, a Korea-Japan matchup could be possible, but given Japan’s form, they are likely to finish first in their group, making it very unlikely that they will meet in the quarterfinals.
Belho, who had prepared for the tournament with the idea of facing Japan in the quarterfinals, had to change his plans at the last minute.
The bigger problem is that the Korean Football Association was not aware of this. The Asian Games Organizing Committee (Organizing Committee) did not inform them.
“There was no letter or notification regarding the rescheduling of the tournament,” an official from the association told ‘News’ on the same day. An official from the Korean Sports Federation also said, “We haven’t heard anything different.”바카라
The federation said that the materials it received from the organizers on the 8th of this month also did not mention any rescheduling, only a revised bracket.
After winning three consecutive bronze medals from Guangzhou 2010 to Jakarta-Palembang 2018, the women’s soccer team will be looking to go for gold at this year’s tournament, but it hasn’t been easy from the start.