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| Colin Bell, head coach of the Korean women's national football team, speaks to reporters before a training session for the Asian Games at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 5. Yonhap |
When Korea got knocked out early at the FIFA Women's World Cup in early August, there was little time for head coach Colin Bell to wallow in self-pity.
Just over a month after Korea's last group stage match at the World Cup, the Taegeuk Ladies will be competing at another major event: the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Before the Asiad squad's first training session Tuesday, Bell said he'd much rather have a quick turnaround to the next event than have to dwell on past results in the interim.
"I am happy right now because the World Cup is over and the Asian Games are coming up," the Englishman said in halting but improving Korean at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Switching to his native tongue, Bell added, "We can get playing straightaway. Now, we're moving forward and looking forward to the next tournament."
Korea went into the Women's World Cup carrying heightened expectations, with a few players boldly predicting a trip to the quarterfinals. However, Korea lost to Colombia and Morocco to begin the group stage, and a hard-fought, 1-1 draw against then-world No. 2 Germany wasn't enough for a ticket to the knockout phase.
Bell said he was "disappointed" with his team's performances in the first two matches but was heartened by the way his players battled against the heavily-favored Germans.
"I think the balance of the team against Germany was more effective, and that's how we want to play and that's how we can play," Bell said. "We could have done much better, and the expectations on the team were higher, maybe higher than ever before, and that was through good work we'd done previously. So when you're working well and having a certain amount of success, the expectations grow, which is what we want."
Bell's own expectations for the Asian Games, however, may be a bit tempered, if for no other reason than Korea's rotten luck with the draw.
There will be 17 teams in the women's football tournament in Hangzhou. Groups A to C have three teams each, and Groups D and E have four nations apiece.
The five group winners and the three best runners-up will advance to the quarterfinals. Winners of Groups A, B and C will take on runner-up teams in the quarters. But winners of Group D and E will face each other in their first knockout match.
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| Members of the Korean women's national football team train for the Asian Games at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 5. Yonhap |
Japan, the top-ranked Asian team at No. 8 and defending Asian Games champions, are favored to win Group D. At the World Cup, Nadeshiko blanked the eventual champions Spain 4-0 in the group stage and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Korea should win Group E over Hong Kong, Myanmar and the Philippines. But playing the best team of the tournament at the onset of the knockouts was the last thing Bell wanted.
"If we win our group and Japan win their group, then we play against Japan. I don't understand how the winners of groups, when you carry on, play each other," Bell said, shaking his head. "So we'll have to see what happens. The system is too complicated."
Speaking in Korean, Bell insisted the team's objective hasn't changed.
"The goal is always the same: to win every match," he said. "It's important that the players will focus and play with confidence."
Korea will play Myanmar on Sept. 22, the Philippines on Sept. 25 and Hong Kong on Sept. 28 in Group E ― all of them at Wenzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Wenzhou, south of Hangzhou.
Korea won three consecutive bronze medals, from 2010 to 2018. (Yonhap)
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