AFC Women’s Asian Cup: DPRK are favourites says Sermanni

Australia coach Tom Sermanni believes his side are the underdogs going into their AFC Women’s Asian Cup semi-final clash with DPR Korea at Thong Nhat Stadium on Thursday.

Australia coach Tom Sermanni believes that the Matildas are the underdogs in their semi-final clash with DPR Korea.

Despite being without nine players who represented the Matildas at the World Cup last year, Australia have performed well in the competition so far and progressed from Group B having won two of their three games.

Their only defeat came against Japan in their final game as they put in a somewhat lethargic performance to lose 3-1.

Australia have had two days to recuperate ahead of their tricky game against DPR Korea – the number one ranked team in Asia – and though Sermanni knows his players are in for a difficult test, he feels anything can happen in the semi-finals.

“I am pleased that we are still in the mix,” he said.

“We are very much the underdogs but once you get to the semi-final stage of a competition anything can happen.

“The semi-finals have a strange way of throwing up unpredictable results so hopefully things will work in our favour.”

DPR Korea have a perfect record in the tournament so far having defeated China, Vietnamand Thailand in the group stage.

And Sermanni, who is waiting on the fitness of captain Cheryl Salisbury, admits his side will need to be at their best if they are to secure a place in the final.

“North Korea are a formidable team,” he added. “It will be very difficult against them as they relentless.

“They seem to have players all over the field as they cover a lot of ground.

“It is important for us to match them physically and get our tactics right to give us the best chance to win the game.”

Despite being one of the favourites to lift the Asian Cup, DPR Korea coach Kim Kwang-min is refusing to take the game lightly.

The North Koreans eased through to the semi-finals with three wins out of three though they had a comparatively easier group than Australia and managed just a narrow 1-0 victory overChina – their toughest opponent in Group A.

“In the group stage we used the matches against Thailand and Vietnam as preparation for the other games in this competition,” said Kim.

“The weather here is not good for us and we used these games to get used to the heat and humidity.

“The game against Australia will not be easy for us. It will be a very hard game but we will do out best to get through.

“We have prepared as best we can for this game, focusing on the rehabilitation of our physical condition and we should be ready.”