*This content was translated by AI.
The North Korean women's soccer team, which returned to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Asian Cup stage for the first time in 16 years, has confirmed its advance to the quarterfinals early.
North Korea defeated Bangladesh 5-0 in the second Group B match of the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup at Western Sydney Stadium in Sydney, Australia on the 6th (Korea time).
Myeong Yoo-jung, who had a hat trick in the match against Uzbekistan earlier, scored a goal again on the day, and Kim Kyung-young (2 goals), Chae Eun-young and Kim Hye-young scored relay goals to win a big victory.
On the same day, North Korea poured a whopping 31 shots into Bangladesh, but did not allow a single shot.
In the first game against Uzbekistan, North Korea won 3-0 with an overwhelming 28-1 advantage.
North Korea, which scored six points (2 wins, +8 differences) with the victory, advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament regardless of the final match against China.
In this tournament, four teams will be divided into three groups, and the top two teams with good performance among the first and second places in each group and the third place in the three groups will advance to the quarterfinals.
It is the first time in 16 years and four competitions that North Korea, which is also classified as the strongest team in Asia along with Japan, has participated in the competition since the 2010 Chinese competition.
North Korea was suspended for the 2014 tournament over a banned substance scandal, and in 2018, it held a preliminary round in Pyongyang but failed to advance to the finals due to South Korea. In the 2022 tournament, he withdrew in the aftermath of COVID-19.
North Korea, which played in the Asian tournament for the first time in a long time, showed overwhelming performance in both the first and second group games, continuing its fourth career victory journey in 18 years since the 2008 Vietnam tournament.
There is also a high possibility that Korea, which has confirmed its advance to the quarterfinals early, will meet in the semifinals or finals of this tournament.
South Korea, which passed the group stage in two games like North Korea, is set to face Australia in the final group match, and the result of the match against Australia will determine the first or second place in the group.
If South Korea advances to the quarterfinals as the top of the group, the women's soccer match between South and North Korea is only possible in the final on the table.
On the contrary, if South Korea loses to Australia and falls behind to second place, it will face second place in Group B in the quarterfinals and first place in Group B and second place in Group C in the semifinals. In terms of objective power, a tough tournament match against China in the quarterfinals and North Korea in the semifinals may be completed.
Meanwhile, qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup finals in Brazil next year is also at stake.
The qualification for the Women's World Cup finals will be made by the semifinals of the tournament and the two playoff winners between the teams that were eliminated from the quarterfinals.
The teams that lost in the playoffs continue their journey to the intercontinental playoffs to advance to the Women's World Cup finals.
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*This content was translated by AI.
