“I don’t get it. They’re making us play each other if we finish first in our group?”South Korea women’s national soccer team head coach Colleen Bell is baffled by the draw for the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games.The women’s soccer group stage at the Hangzhou Asian Games is divided into five groups, with three teams in Groups A through C and four teams in Groups D and E. The top five teams in each group will face off against the second-place team in each group.The top five finishers from each group and the best three finishers from each group will meet in the quarterfinals, with the top two finishers from Group D and Group E meeting in the semifinals.The problem is that the draw placed South Korea and Japan in Groups D and E, respectively.Based on their strength of schedule, it’s very likely that both teams will finish first in their respective groups. This means that the “Korea-Japan” matchup will take place in the quarterfinals.Japan is a strong team that reached the quarterfinals of the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.Their only loss came to eventual champions Spain. Japan won their group stage matchup 4-0 with a quick counterattack.It’s a tough draw for Bell’s men, who have a dismal record at the World Cup with one draw and two losses.When asked about his goals for the tournament, Bell told reporters at the Paju National Training Center (NFC) on Friday: “To keep winning. I expect the players to be focused and confident,” he said.”If you finish first in your group, you play Japan,” he said, adding, “I don’t understand. I don’t know why you have to play the first place team. It’s complicated. We’ll see how it goes,” he said with a determined expression.Despite the likelihood of a tough draw, Bell emphasized that he is “happy” to be at the Asian Games.”The World Cup is over, the analysis is over, and now we’re moving forward,” he said in Korean.”For the Hangzhou Asian Games, we will focus more on the preparation because of the short notice,” he added.”There were a lot of expectations coming into this World Cup, and I think a lot of teams were burdened by those expectations,” Bell said of the underwhelming World Cup performance, “and we were one of them. I’m disappointed that we didn’t live up to the expectations of our fans.”With ‘fitness’ at the forefront of his mind, Bell started the day with a fitness test.While Lim Sun-ju, Choi Yuri (Hyundai Steel) and Kim Yoon-ji (Suwon FC), who were not fully fit, trained separately, the 19 players were divided into two groups for a hellish test.Starting at 130 meters, the athletes had to complete the distance in 6.5-meter increments within 45 seconds.Won Chae-eun (Hyundai Go) and Park Je-ah (Pohang Women’s FC) joined the team as training partners.The team will continue training in Paju before departing the country on the afternoon of the 19th and traveling to Yunzhou, Zhejiang, China for the final round.They will play Myanmar on the 22nd, the Philippines on the 25th, and Hong Kong on the 28th at the Yunzhou Sports Center Stadium.South Korea had to settle for bronze three times in a row from Guangzhou to 온라인카지노 the last Jakarta-Palembang.Japan, China and North Korea are among the teams that will try to prevent South Korea from winning a medal.
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