South Korea women's team secured a comfortable 6-0 victory over Bangladesh in the second round of Group Stage at the Asian Games on Wednesday. The result sees the visitors move to the top of their section while the hosts sit bottom with zero points after one defeat. To be fair, the margin reflects the gulf in experience between the two sides coming into this fixture.
Kim Min-Ji opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute, giving South Korea an early advantage before Jeong Da-Bin doubled the lead just before the interval. The home side struggled to find any rhythm against a well-drilled South Korean unit that controlled possession and territory. And here's the thing — Bangladesh looked disjointed in midfield, unable to string passes together under pressure.
Five minutes after the break came a flurry of changes, with both managers reshuffling their options. South Korea brought on Choo Hyo-Joo and T. Khatun while Bangladesh introduced fresh legs in an attempt to stem the tide. The visitors resumed their dominance with Choe Yu-Ri's goal in the sixty-fifth minute, extending the lead to three.
Our prediction of a South Korea win — we backed them at 49 per cent confidence — proved accurate. By then the game was effectively over, though the hosts deserved some credit for not folding completely despite the scoreboard. Ji So-Yun added a fourth in the seventy-seventh minute, and S. Hyun completed the rout with a seventh-minute strike.
R. Chakma received a yellow card in the seventy-second minute as frustration mounted at the back. Bangladesh made further substitutions in the eighty-first, bringing on M. Chakma and S. I. Shamsunnahar, but the outcome was never in doubt. A final goal in stoppage time confirmed the comprehensive nature of the result.
South Korea now sit second in the group with three points from one game, while Bangladesh remain fourth with nothing to show. The hosts have lost all three of their previous matches this year and face an uphill battle. There is no value left at that number — Bangladesh need a dramatic turnaround if they want to progress.
