Young Matildas punished by Korea Republic

The Young Matildas were taught a lesson in the ruthlessness of international football at the AIS Grass Fields as Korea Republic romped to a 9-0 win.

The Young Matildas were taught a lesson in the ruthlessness of international football at the AIS Grass Fields as Korea Republic showed no mercy in front of goal, punishing every single Australian mistake to romp to a 9-0 win.

Led by four-goal Jang Selgi the Koreans gathered a measure of revenge for their narrow 2-1 defeat in the first of a trio of matches between the nations on Saturday with a superbly effective attacking display that led Australia a merry dance for most of the 90 minutes.

Korea got off to a flyer and was three goals up inside the opening eighteen minutes, mainly due to the silky skills and predatory instincts of Jang.

The striker opened the scoring in the fifth minute getting in behind the Australian defence to calmly slot the first of her personal tally before turning playmaker to slide in Lee So Dam to round Penelope Edmund in the Australian goal for 2-0.

A simple tap-in for Jang had the Young Matildas on the ropes and it was 4-0 by the interval as Jang completed a hat-trick, bundling past the last defender before sweeping her shot beyond Edmund and into the far corner.

Having made a raft of changes from the side that defeated Korea in the opening match of the series, Head Coach Spencer Prior handed local Canberra United player Catherine Brown the Captain-s arm-band for the fixture, but the normally dynamic left-footer was as helpless as the rest as Korea stormed onto the front-foot again in the second half.

Jang had her fourth goal seven minutes into the second stanza with a blistering drive from distance and the player of the match created a sixth goal, confidently dispatched by Choi Yuri who broke the attempted offside trap from Jang-s slide-rule pass.

Three minutes later Choi had her second, breaking clear again to skip around the advancing Edmund and roll the ball into the empty goal.

Jang departed shortly after but there was no respite for Australia. Namgung Yeji made it 8-0 in the 80th minute and the scoring as rounded out two minutes from time as Choi Bichna got in on the act with the ninth and final goal.

It was fine display from Korea and, if Edmund hadn-t been as solid as she was, making a series of decent blocks, the score could have been more.

The Young Matildas will regroup for the third, and decisive, match between the nations at the AIS Athletics Field on Saturday 20th April.

Australia 0 Korea Republic 9 (Jang Selgi 5-, 18-, 28-, 52-, Lee So Dam 12-, Choe Yuri 70-, 73-, Mangung Yeji 80-, Choi Bichna 88-)