A dominant Korea cruised into the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup semi-finals with a 6-0 win against Uzbekistan in their last eight tie at Stadium Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victory secured Korea a showdown against either Japan or the Philippines on Wednesday and also booked their FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup Brazil 2027 seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uzbekistan, meanwhile, will attempt to qualify for the global showpiece via the playoffs – with the Central Asian side to meet the losers of the Japan-Philippines quarter-final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Korea head coach Shin Sang-woo restored midfielder Kim Shin-ji to the starting line-up but had to make a last-minute switch with Son Hwa-yeon taking the place of forward Jeon Yu-gyeong, while Kotryna Kulbyte sprang a surprise with her Uzbekistan selection, opting to keep attackers Nilufar Kudratova, Diyorakhon Khabibullaeva and Lyudmila Karachik on the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn\u2019t take long for Hwa-yeon to make an impact, running onto Choe Yu-ri\u2019s pass in the ninth minute with her low shot deflecting off Dilrabo Asadova and looping over Maftuna Jonimqulova to settle in the back of the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonimqulova was forced into action again in the 19th minute, getting down to her right to parry Hwa-yeon\u2019s glancing header from Yu-ri\u2019s cross but the Uzbekistan custodian was helpless a minute later when Ko Yoo-jin lashed home from distance into the top corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Korea continued to rain attempts on the Uzbekistan goalmouth with Hwa-yeon crashing a header against the crossbar before Jang Sel-gi\u2019s powerful strike was tipped onto the woodwork by the overworked Jonimqulova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half got off to a cagey beginning but Korea soon got into their stride as they added to their advantage in the 57th minute when Jonimqulova punched Jung Min-young\u2019s corner delivery into the path of Park Soo-jeong, who smashed home the rebound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became 4-0 in the 72nd minute after Zarina Mamatkarimova was dispossessed just outside the box with crisp passing opening up space for Ji So-yun to sidefoot the ball into the bottom corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Korea added another 13 minutes later when So-yun produced a wonderful through pass for Kang Chae-rim, whose effort was blocked by Jonimqulova but Lee Eun-young was on hand to tap-in the loose ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The East Asian side capped a fine performance in stoppage time after Eun-young was tripped in the box by Ruskhshona Usarova, with Sel-gi stepping up to slot home the resulting penalty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A dominant Korea cruised into the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup semi-finals with a 6-0 win against Uzbekistan in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-10561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t