AFC U-19 Women’s Championship: Three burning questions ahead of the semi-finals

Nanjing: After 12 matches, four outstanding teams remain. Now, as Asia’s elite women’s youth showpiece reaches its business end, the-AFC.com ponders three questions ahead of the final stages of the tournament.

What is Japan’s strongest team?

Futoshi Ikeda has rotated his squad more than any other coach in Nanjing, making six changes from the team that trounced Vietnam for the match against Australia, before swapping eight players for the final group encounter with Korea Republic.

The lack of a consistent starting line-up hasn’t hurt his team’s performances, as Japan swept aside all-comers in Group B, scoring 15 goals in three convincing wins, but as the stakes get higher, who will be trusted to guide them to a fifth Asian title?

Riko Ueki (pictured above) has been among Japan’s most impressive players, contributing a goal and six assists in just 137 minutes of game time – 57 percent of Japan’s total minutes in the tournament.

Saori Takarada’s (pictured below) numbers are even more startling. The lethal striker has scored five goals in just 126 minutes on the field of play, meaning she is the competition’s top scorer despite spending more time on the bench than on on the pitch.

Ikeda maintains that every player in this squad is at the same level, saying “anyone can play any match (in this team), so I choose the players in the best condition.”

If that truly is the case, Japan’s squad depth is something most coaches can only dream of.

Can anyone stop DPR Korea’s perfect partnership?

One man who believes his team’s talent pool runs just as deep as Japan’s is DPR Korea head coach Thomas Gerstner, who, like Ikeda, believes every player in his squad is as good as the next, and preaches a team-first mantra.

“The team did a great job in the last week. The whole team, not just two players but all the players, assistant coaches and staff,” the German said following his side’s 2-0 win over China PR.

It is not clear which two players the boss was referring to, but it may well have been the outstanding strike duo of Sung Hyang-sim (pictured below) and Ri Hae-yon, who have lit up the tournament with their near-telepathic understanding.

Sung, 18 in December, is already a star a senior international, scoring four goals in as many matches during DPR Korea’s unsuccessful AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifying campaign in April.

She bagged the same amount in just one AFC U-19 Women’s Championship match against Thailand, while U-17 Women’s World Cup star Ri (pictured below) has three goals of her own.

But Gerstner believes their partnership will get stronger as the tournament goes on.

“They worked in the U-17’s together, but they didn’t work in the last five months together,” he said.

“(Sung) Hyang-sim is normally training with the senior team, and only joined us two weeks before the start of the trip.

“(The partnership) needs time, because its been five months apart, but we can see that they have worked together in the past and it’s nice to have them.”

Based on their current from, only can only imagine how much havoc could be caused by a further improved DPR Korea frontline.

Can Australia end the drought?

It’s been 11 long years since Australia qualified for a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, but Young Matildas are in their best position in a decade to end the drought.

The likes of Claire Polkinghorne and Lydia Williams – now veterans of the senior national team – were part of that 2006 squad, but new names such as Remy Siemsen (pictured below), Alex Chidiac and Jada Mathyseen-Whyman have come to the forefront in Nanjing, as Gary van Egmond’s side progressed to the final four.

Drawn in a tough group with Japan and Korea Republic – who have won six AFC U-19 Women’s Championship titles between them – van Egmond was thrilled to advance.

“They are powerhouses in women’s football – particularly youth football, so for us to get ourselves in a positon where we have a shot at the World Cup is terrific,” said the former Newcastle Jets boss.

Up next is the unenviable challenge of a DPR Korea side who have plundered 13 goals without conceding – or ever really coming close – and look every chance of achieving Gerstner’s goal of winning the title, but van Egmond said his charges shouldn’t be written off.

“We know (DPR Korea) are a very, very strong outfit and they’ve done very well historically. They’re very strong, physically fit and well organised and we know its going to be a difficult game, but (my girls are) a real resilient group, and I wouldn’t put anything past them.”

His squad certainly doesn’t lack belief.

While van Egmond’s stated aim is to qualify for the U-20 Women’s World Cup in France, both Siemsen and Chidiac (pictured above) – joint top-scorers with three goals apiece – have both spoken of their desire to go a step further and win the tournament.

That may still be a possibility, but first, Australia must get a result in one of their next two matches to return to the U-20 world stage after over a decade in the wilderness.

Photos: AFC 

Source: the-afc.com