After the women’s football team failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Games for the first time in 25 years following their defeat to North Korea, coach Colin Bell has vented his anger at the officiating and organisation of the event.
Bell’s side were knocked out of the Hangzhou Asian Games quarter-finals by North Korea 1-4 on Tuesday afternoon at the Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium in Zhejiang province, China.
Unable to overcome a numerical disadvantage following the sending off of Son Hwa-yeon (Hyundai Steel) in the 41st minute of the first half, Korea conceded three goals in the second half.
In the 40th minute, a collision between North Korea’s Kim Eun-hwi, who was advancing to clear the ball, and Son Hwa-yeon, who was rushing forward, occurred in the middle of the field, and the referee did not hesitate to show Son Hwa-yeon a yellow card.
With Son Hwa-yeon leaving the field under caution, the outnumbered Belles began to struggle and conceded three goals in the second half.
“A long ball came in (from the back) and the striker (Son Hwa-yeon) went forward to take it on the head,” Bell said in the post-match press conference. The opposing goalkeeper came out with his fist raised,” he recalled.
“It could have been a great game, but the referee completely ruined it,” he said, criticising the Thai referee.
Apart from the Japanese standby referee, all the referees on the day were Thai.
“I don’t understand it. “I asked the standby referee if he had ever played in the World Cup, and he said no, and we could see why in the game,” Bell said sarcastically.
“If you’re a referee, you should never influence the game. It’s a simple matter,” he complained, adding that a tournament like this should always have the best people, the best referees, and the best organisers.
He also strongly reacted to the fact that the tournament was not divided into four groups, even though 16 teams ended up competing in the tournament.
The tournament was originally scheduled to have 17 teams competing.
The organisers decided to divide the group into five, with three teams in groups A to C and four teams in groups D and E.
However, Cambodia’s sudden withdrawal just before the tournament left four teams competing in Groups D-E, which included South Korea and Japan, and only two teams in Group C, which included North Korea.
Normally, a 16-team tournament would be divided into four groups of four teams to ensure an equitable number of matches, but due to the tight schedule, the organisers kept the groupings the same.
“There are 16 teams in the tournament, so four groups of four is fine,” says Bell. But we had a group with two teams, and we only finished our last game 48 hours ago,” Bell said, noting that the organisers have to remain calm when such shortfalls affect overall performance.
“I said in the last press conference that I’m a fair sport, and I want fair sport, aggressive and rough, but fair sport,” he said, “and this is the complete opposite of that fairness.”
“Referee, talk to the organisers,” Bell said, turning to the organisers who were conducting the press conference, “please, next time, let’s have 16 teams in four groups and let them compete fairly. Please, please, please, please,” he said, seemingly unable to control his emotions.
“I have to protect my players, I love my team, I love my players, that’s why I’m angry,” he said, adding, “Fair, fair, fair, I repeat, fair. But this was not fair,” she added.
With the loss, South Korean women’s football failed to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time in 25 years since the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.
It followed back-to-back early exits from major international tournaments, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they were eliminated after one draw and two losses in the group stage.
“The World Cup is in the past,” Bell said. I don’t think it means much,” Bell said. “From now on, my goal is not to dwell on the past, but to pursue the future.”
“As you know, today’s game, our players really worked hard, so I’ll work hard and focus on the future,” he added. 파워볼분석
