The North Korean women’s soccer team, which won a silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, was unable to laugh at its crushing defeat against Japan in the final.
The North Korean women’s soccer team lost 1-4 to Japan in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games held at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium in Hangzhou, China on the 6th.
North Korea, which had disappeared from the international women’s soccer stage by not participating in the Tokyo Olympics due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), returned to international competition through this tournament four years after the Cyprus Cup in March 2019.
North Korea won its two matches against Singapore in the group stage with massive wins of 7-0 and 10-0, respectively, and cruised to the finals by defeating South Korea (4-1) in the quarterfinals and Uzbekistan (8-0) in the semifinals, but was defending. They had to be satisfied with a silver medal as they could not surpass the champion Japan.
North Korea, which lost to Japan in the quarterfinals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang and could not even win a medal, was bound to feel even more regret as it lost again in this match, vowing revenge.
On this day, North Korea gave up a goal early on in the day to Japan and then scored the equalizer to make it 1-1 in the first half. They continued their offensive in waves and collapsed after scoring three goals in the second half, making the shock of defeat seem even greater.
After the game, they did not forget to say hello to the cheering team, who cheered enthusiastically and created a ‘home team atmosphere’ even though they were low on energy, but the players always had a gloomy expression on their faces during the award ceremony.메이저사이트
Even with the silver medal hanging around her neck, her face remained stern.
It was the same when passing through the common reporting area (mixed zone) after the awards ceremony.
Reporters from South Korea and Japan, the opposing country, asked the North Korean players to give their thoughts on the game as they exited through behind the wall of the mixed zone rather than through the original passage, as if to avoid reporters, but both the players and officials remained silent.
After all the athletes left, there was an unusual scene where a group of tournament volunteers followed and surrounded the athletes boarding the bus so that reporters could not see them.
Among the North Korean members, director Lee Yu-il was the only one to leave a comment through an official press conference.
He pointed to the defense and goalkeeper’s play as the fault and said, “I will do my best to show a new and good performance in important games in the future.”