Ho Chi Minh City: Kwon Song-Hwa's goal was enough to ensure DPR Korea continued their perfect start with a 1-0 victory over Australia in the AFC U-19 Women's Championship at Thanh Long Sports Centre.

Kwon's powerful first half strike and some resolute defending proved enough to see off Australia, who mounted a spirited fightback in which they struck the post twice.

Heavy rain before kick-off made playing conditions extremely difficult, with both teams' passes often falling short of their targets. The Australians started the brighter, though, with Nicola Bolger firing narrowly over in the second minute.

After the initial stages DPR Korea began to control the midfield, with Kim Jo-Ran and Jon Myong-Hwa dictating the pace. In the 16^th minute Kim Jo-ran had an opportunity to give her team the lead when Australian keeper Casey Dumont missed a cross but the winger chose to pass rather than shoot and the Australians scrambled the ball away.

But Kim Jo-ran was involved when the Koreans took the lead in the 22^nd minute. Coming off the left-wing, she jinked inside her marker before slipping the ball into Kwon on the edge of the box. The striker turned and unleashed a powerful strike into the left-hand side of Dumont's net.

The Koreans continued to press and Jon's long-range shot went narrowly wide with Dumont beaten before they lost central midfielder Jong Yu-ri to injury in the 29^th minute after a collision with Tara Andrews, O Hui-Sun taking her place.

The Australians almost equalised against the run of play in the 36^th minute after Caitlin Foord won a corner. Ashley Brown played a short one-two before crossing to Tara Andrews, who controlled the ball on her chest and volleyed against the post. The rebound fell to Teigen Allen but she could only find the keeper's gloves.

Australia started the second-half on top, with Emily Van-Egmond's fine strike forcing a save from keeper O Chang-Ran.

They nearly equalised in the 60^th minute after some fine play from Allen released Andrews on the right-wing. The striker's low cross found Foord in acres of space but her shot struck the inside of the left post. Shortly, after Allen should have done better after getting on the end of a corner.

DPR Korea had chances to extend their lead, with substitute Kim Un-Hwa firing narrowly wide after displaying some fine skill and Jon's strike was well-saved by Dumont, but they held on to claim three vital points that sees them top the table.

Ho Chi Minh City: Australia coach Jeff Hopkins knows his side is in for another difficult encounter when they take on DPR Korea at Thanh Long Sports Centre but believes they have enough firepower at their disposal to collect a second consecutive victory at the AFC U-19 Women's Championship.

Australia began their campaign in winning fashion against Vietnam but had to dig deep to overcome the hosts. Trailing 3-1 with an hour gone, they were thankful for Emily Gielnik's hat-trick that saw them run out eventual 4-3 winners.

Hopkins felt the game will prove a wake-up call for his players as to the standards they need to reach if they are to take the trophy back home and he is under no illusions that a clash with DPR Korea, who saw off neighbours Korea Republic 2-1, will prove to be any easier.

However, he has confidence Australia can rise to the challenge despite having just a day to recover from their tribulations against the Vietnamese.

"We've seen a little bit of their Under-17s from the last World Cup but we know that sides that come out of DPR Korea are going to be very, very difficult to beat," said Hopkins.

"They'll be together, well organised, good technical players, physically fit as well and with their system, they might cause us a few problems that we're not used to.

"We've got a little bit of an idea about them, we're going to have a look at them before the game, but we'll back ourselves."

Although everyone completed the game with Vietnam relatively unscathed, Hopkins was far from satisfied with the performance his side produced and as such, promised to ring the changes against the Koreans.

"We came through the game reasonably well injury-wise, one or two suffered with the heat," he added.

"I wasn't overly pleased with the performance so there will definitely be a few changes to the team."

DPR Korea also had to come from behind against their southern neighbours to join Australia at the top of the table on three points, Kim Su-gyong netting the winner with nine minutes to go.

Boss Sin Ui-gun confessed he has no prior knowledge about their opponents but promised they would be looking to cement top spot with another win.

"We don't have any information on Australia so I can't say anything now but generally speaking, they are a good team," he said.

"We are definitely aiming at gaining another three points against Australia."

Ho Chi Minh City: DPR Korea boss Sin Ui-gun saluted a determined display from his side after they came from a goal down to beat Korea Republic 2-1 and begin their AFC U-19 Women's Championship on a winning note.

Korea Republic had taken the lead after 17 minutes at Thong Nhat Stadium when Choi Mi-rae finished off a set piece with a powerful strike that keeper O Chang-ran was unable to keep out.

However, DPR Korea improved after the break and equalised in the 72^nd minute as Kwon Song-hwa skipped away from her marker down the right flank before squaring for fellow substitute Kim Jo-ran to steer home from the edge of the area with the help of a slight deflection from a Korea Republic defender.

And they grabbed the winner nine minutes from the end when Kwon forged down the left side and pulled the ball back to Kim Su-gyong inside the box, where the midfielder made no mistake with the finish.

Sin felt his side's grit ultimately saw them through to victory.

"We regarded this as a battle and before we came here, we got the order from our general Kim Jong-il to win, unconditionally. We have to win," said Sin.

"So we did our best as a soldier, like in a battle site, and we finally won. I think this is the most important thing. By the end of the game, we played much better."

South Korea coach Choi Duck-joo, on the other hand, felt individual errors cost his team a chance to win the contest.

"The players condition is not that good so we did not play so well," he said.

"Our defenders made some mistakes so that was the reason we lost."

Sin unperturbed by poor preparation
 

Ho Chi Minh City: DPR Korea coach Sin Ui-gin admitted his side's preparation for the AFC U-19 Women's Championship has been far from ideal but feels they can still match neighbours Korea Republic in their opening game at Thong Nhat Stadium.

Five members of Sin's squad were called up to play for the senior team during the recent Olympic qualifiers after five DPR Korea players were banned for violating FIFA's anti-doping rules at the recent World Cup in Germany.

It means the squad has only been able to spend a few days together but the DPR Korea boss is confident they have the game plan to take on their southern rivals on Thursday.

"Our team did not have enough time to train and get together so from tomorrow, I am going to organise the match in our own style," said Sin.

"It is not forward orientated, it is not always defending, but it is our style.

"Five women players from the senior team were handed disciplinary sanctions so they could not play in the Olympic qualification, so five players from this team had to go. After the Olympic qualification, we have had not much time for this tournament. So we have not had enough time."

But Sin refused to accept that the poor preparation makes his side underdogs.

"I expected the problem long ago. The time for training was not enough but we predicted that so we are ready to go."

Korea Republic, meanwhile, lost out in the final two years ago to Japan and coach Choi Duck-joo is targeting going one step further this time around in Vietnam, although he acknowledged they would have to usurp their more illustrious rivals in order to do so.

"Firstly we want to go to the World Cup and secondly we want to be champions," he said.

"Japan and DPR Korea are higher in the rankings than us so it is going to be very tough for us but we will do our best and put in every effort to win the game."

link: the-Afc.com

Sin Ui-Gin, in vista della prima partita, il derby contro la Sud Corea dichiara: "Il mio team non ha avuto tempo di prepararsi al meglio, dopo la qualificazione olimpica e a causa delle squalifiche per doping, ma vogliamo giocare con il nostro stile".

Queste le convocate:

Le partite:

ad Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam
06/10/2011 Sud Corea – RDPC
08/10/2011 RDPC – Australia
10/10/2011 Vietnam – RDPC
13/10/2011 RDPC – Giappone
16/10/2011 RP Cina – RDPC