South Korea Crush Uzbekistan 6-0 to Reach Women’s Asian Cup Semifinals

South Korea powered into the Women’s Asian Cup semifinals with a 6-0 demolition of Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia on Saturday. Son Hwa-Yeon and Ko Yoo-Jin put the Koreans 2-0 ahead within the first 20 minutes.

Despite Uzbekistan’s efforts to contain the damage, Park Soo-Jeong, Ji So-Yun, Lee Eun-Young and Jang Sel-Gi added four more goals in the second half in front of 12,974 fans.

South Korea will face the winners of Sunday’s Japan-Philippines quarter-final in Sydney on Wednesday. Uzbekistan will take on the losing side in Thursday’s playoff on the Gold Coast, with a win securing a place at next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

The South Koreans dominated from start to finish, registering 16 shots on target to Uzbekistan’s one and controlling 80% of possession. Son opened the scoring after nine minutes when her shot deflected off Dilrabo Asadova. Ko doubled the lead after Sevinch Kuchkorova failed to clear a cross, allowing the defender to score from the edge of the box.

Uzbekistan’s best chance came just before halftime when Zarina Mamatkarimova broke forward on a counter but was denied by goalkeeper Ryu Ji-Soo. In the second half, Park made it 3-0 in the 57th minute, Ji added a fourth, Lee tapped in a fifth from close range in the 86th minute, and Jang converted a stoppage-time penalty to complete the 6-0 victory.

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