The Korean women’s national soccer team ended the tournament at the 2023 Australia/New Zealand Women’s World Cup by being eliminated with 1 draw and 2 losses and the bottom of the group (1 point). In the last game, they drew against Germany, second in the FIFA rankings, barely avoiding repeating the history of the ‘group stage defeat’, but accepted the painful report card of ‘2 consecutive World Cup elimination at the bottom of the group’. In order to fundamentally improve, there is a diagnosis that the ecosystem of Korean women’s soccer needs to be changed.
Cho So-hyun, who scored the only goal for the national team in this tournament, calmly said at the entrance on the 5th, “It was a tournament with a lot of regrets,” and “I still think it’s a frog in a well.”
Apart from the high walls of the world stage, the reality of Korean women’s soccer, where the generational change is not well done due to the narrow base, was also revealed. The average age of the Korean national team was 28.9 years old, the highest among the 32 countries in the final round. Ji So-yeon, Jo So-hyun, and Park Eun-seon, who were the third challenge in the World Cup, were the main players of the team, but it was difficult to see the faces of new players.
Currently, it is an environment where even player development cannot be done properly. Joon-hee Han, a commentator at Coupang Play and vice president of the Korea Football Association, said, “In the case of Korean women’s soccer, the structure itself, which consists of elementary, middle, high school, and unemployment teams, is not a pyramid, but more like a rectangle.” When this happens, there is a strong tendency to go until you become a’old man’.” It is different from the starting line of male soccer players who have been exposed to soccer in school sports clubs or professional clubs since elementary school and then take elite courses to professional teams.
If competition becomes difficult due to lack of base, naturally, the goals of the players will inevitably be lowered. One member pointed out, “There are some overseas players, but the rate of recognizing the WK League as the final destination is much higher than that of men’s soccer.” It means that it is important to widen the door to look beyond the domestic league.스포츠토토
There is also a need to increase the A-match opportunities. It is to open a field for generational change and competition. Currently, the number of A-matches that the women’s national soccer team plays ahead of a big tournament is far less than that of the men’s national team. One committee member said, “If you play an A match once every half year, the probability of continuing to select the representative players selected last time increases.” It is much more advantageous for natural generation change and inducing competition.”
The World Cup is over, but as another world stage is ahead, it is time to accelerate the expansion of the base. A month later, the Asian Games in Hangzhou and the second round of Asian qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics await at the end of October. Along with short-term training with ‘high-intensity’, it is necessary to lay the foundation from a longer-term perspective.