Philippines falls short in Women's Asian Cup semifinals

c/o Asian Football Confederation

South Korea secured its first-ever Women's Asian Cup final on Thursday afternoon, doing so with a 2-0 victory over the Philippines at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.

The Taeguk Ladies scored two first half goals from Cho So-Hyun and Son Hwa-Yeon in a dominating performance.

It did not take long for Korea to have an advantage, as Cho received a corner kick from Kim Hye-Ri and the Tottenham women's stalwart headed it past Olivia Davies-McDaniel after four minutes.

They would continue to put additional pressure with Son getting shots towards Davies-McDaniel, but the Milwaukee alumna would take care of them in the 15th and 19th minute.

The Filipinas would have their own scoring opportunities, although they were much fewer than their opposition. Katrina Guillou had a chance in the 24th minute, although her long distance attempt just missed.

Korea would double the lead in the 34th minute, as Choo Hyo-Joo found Son for an easy tap-in.

Alen Stajcic made three changes during the break, with Malea Cesar, Chandler McDaniel, and Sara Castaneda coming on, although McDaniel would suffer a knee injury that would cut short her stint after twelve minutes.

The adjustments could not provide the Philippines the necessary oomph needed to cause a problem for the Korean defense. However, they remained resolute on the defensive side of the ball, giving their effort to prevent their opposition from blowing the game wide open.

Davies-McDaniel denied Son a chance at a brace in the 67th minute, as well as substitute Lee Min-A's opportunity twenty minutes later.

Colin Bell praised the team's performance afterwards, "The girls have worked tremendously hard the whole tournament, and to actually get to the final after this game is such a big achievement. We’re happy we got the result and the chance to play in the final."

In spite of the defeat, the Philippines achieved their objective in earning one of the automatic spots for the FIFA Women's World Cup next year. Alen Stajcic shared post-match, "It was a very tough match. Korea Republic were the better team and had more chances than we had. After 120 minutes in the last match, the players still fought right to the death. There’s an amazing amount of heart and courage in this group, and I’m proud of them. Everyone back home in the Philippines should be so proud of this group, who have come such a long way in such a short space of time."

The win allows Korea to face off against China this weekend for the right to be Asia's best women's football team.