Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers: DPR Korea beats India 8-0

The home side was dominant throughout and could have won by a larger margin if not for the heroics of India’s second choice goalkeeper Panthoi who, deputising for injured regular custodian Aditi Chauhan, made several superb saves.

India will face Korea Republic ,which will be playing its first Group B qualifying match, on Wednesday.

Indian women’s football team’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 Group B qualifying campaign got off to a bad start after being on the receiving end of an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of host DPR Korea at the Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang on Monday.

The home side was dominant throughout and could have won by a larger margin if not for the heroics of India’s second choice goalkeeper Panthoi who, deputising for injured regular custodian Aditi Chauhan, made several superb saves.

Ranked tenth in the world, some 46 places above its South Asian opponent, DPR Korea started brightly and broke the deadlock on seven minutes when Ri Un-yong powered home a header from Wi Jong-sim’s corner.

Forward Ryi Kyong-hyang duly doubled the lead six minutes later with a simple tap in after some fine work in the penalty area by Ri Hyang-sim.

The provider, who was part of DPR Korea’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup winning team, then turned poacher with a thunderous low drive from distance in the 21st minute, before left winger Kim Phyong-hwa latched on to a perfectly timed through-ball and fired past the onrushing Panthoi to hand a DPR Korea a deserved 4-0 lead going into the break.

Kim Kwang-min’s side continued the second half in a similar fashion, Wi getting on to the end of a pin point cross just three minutes after the restart. Wi then doubled her tally from the penalty spot after she was brought down in the box by India’s Ashalata Devi Loitongbam.

With just twelve minutes remaining, Wi was in the thick of the action once again, this time sliding in a perfectly weighted pass for Kim Phyong-hwa to curl home her second goal of the game.

Two minutes later, substitute Sung Hyang-sim rounded off the scoring and repaid coach Kim Kwang-min’s decision to bring her on with a neat finish.

DPR Korea will look to build on the momentum of its breathtaking start when it takes on Hong Kong on Wednesday. India meanwhile, will face a recharged Korea Republic side which will be playing its first Group B qualifying match.

(With inputs from The-AFC.com )