DPR Korea vs Uzbekistan - Women's Asia Football Cup

A crazy first match for Group B saw a hat-trick for North Korea and a worrying injury for Uzbekistan, read ahead for a deep dive into the history of the North Korean women’s team and how they made their way to this tournament, and an overview of the Uzbekistan and their previous results and journey to the Australian hosted competition.

(Image credit to The AFC)

Just six minutes into the electric game, North Korea’s Myong Yu-Jong scored a banging first goal, setting the score at 1-0, giving both teams motivation to keep pushing and smash more goals in as quick as possible.

In the eighth minute, disaster struck for the Uzbekistan side when their keeper, Maftuna Jonimqulova was whisked off the pitch in a stretcher after being fallen on by a teammate during a defensive move.

A penalty in the 21st minute for North Korea, after Chae Un-Yong was shoved to the ground by Zarina Mamatkarimova, saw Myong Yu-Jong score her second goal of the game, giving the North Korean side hope and putting pressure on Uzbekistan to act quick.

The 41st minute saw another penalty after an Uzbekistan handball in the box, Myong Yu-Jong repeated her previous shot, aiming for the lower left corner of the goal and scored, completing her hat-trick.

Celebrations ensued before the half-time whistle was even blown as the achievement was honoured and the likelihood of a win looked closer and closer.

After half-time, Myong Yu-Jong was placed on the bench to rest and recover from her impressive feat in the game. The substitutions for DPR Korea seemed like a completely different team, falling short of many attempts and opportunities that the first half team seemed to capitalise on effortlessly. The Uzbekistan defence looked strong in the second half, limiting most of North Korea’s opportunities and keeping the ball contained and in their control.

During the post-game interview, North Korean coach, Ri Song-Ho said through a translator

“My main concern was the difference between the starting XI and the substitutes, it was bigger than I expected.” Clearly showing the disappointment for the second half of the game and the lack of domination on the pitch.

This was North Korea’s first international competition game in 15 years, after a doping suspension during the 2011 Women’s World Cup, the ban stopped them from competing in the 2014 Asia Cup and the 2015 World Cup. After this suspension, the team failed to qualify for the 2018 and 2019 tournaments, and during COVID, all teams were forced out of international competition. Despite this hiatus from international competition, they planned exceptionally, especially in the first half of the game.

The 2029 hosts of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup competition, Uzbekistan played a strong game, particularly in the second half. The central Asian country has had a variety of previous scores, most notably, a 10-0 win against Sri Lanka during the qualifiers for this competition. Despite this impressive score, the team have been struggling to make game-changing results, translating skill to on-field action has been a clear struggle, and this competition is the time to fix the problem as the AFC women’s Asian Cup is also a form of qualification for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 for the top 6 teams.

Both teams have taken away changes to be made to their teams and styles of play, these will be focused on in training and future games as the tournament continues throughout March.

Make sure to tune in the games and watch some awesome football!

Article written by Milla Sinfield