Holders Japan, Korea eye quarterfinals spots from Group C

Potentially one win away from securing a place in the AFC Women's Asian Cup quarter-finals, defending champions Japan will look to seal the deal when they meet Vietnam in their Group C match here on Monday.

In another Group C match, Korea Republic will look to make it two consecutive wins when they play Myanmar.

Japan's impressive 5-0 win over Myanmar in their opening match last Friday, along with Korea Republic's 3-0 victory against Vietnam, placed the Nadeshiko in a comfortable position in defense of the back-to-back titles won in 2014 and 2018.

Japan dominated against a defensive Myanmar side but showed their true capability in the second half to score four times.

Vietnam also adopted a defensive approach against the Korea Republic and while Japan is favorites, head coach Futoshi Ikeda said he wants his team to continue in the same vein against their Southeast Asian opponents on Monday.

''We need to maintain our players' condition and analyze our performance, especially the combination of our passes,'' said Ikeda.

''We created a lot of opportunities to score, but couldn't find the back of the net. So we need to improve on that against Vietnam.'' COVID-19 issues and early game jitters saw Vietnam concede two early goals against the Koreans, but Mai Duc Chung's charges displayed much-improved performance in the second half. Vietnam was unable to train together for over 10 days due to COVID-19 cases in the team.

The bulk of the squad, however, is back and fans can expect Vietnam to bring the challenge to the reigning champions at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.

''I'm happy because we still have more time to prepare for Japan,'' said Mai.

''My players will also have more time to recover from COVID, and we will then begin our preparation. ''Japan is a high-level team and skilful. I think they're a strong opponent, but we will try our best in the match.'' The Korea Republic is currently second in the standings, behind Japan on goal difference, while Vietnam and Myanmar are third and fourth respectively. A win for the Korea Republic, if followed by a Japanese victory over Vietnam in the group's second match on Monday, will mean both the East Asian teams will book their quarter-final spots with a match to spare.

Colin Bell's Korea Republic opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Vietnam on Friday, with Ji So-Yun scoring twice.

Bell said Korean Republic has prepared well for Myanmar as they expect them to employ a similar style of play against Vietnam. ''We have tried to prepare for the first two matches similarly,'' said Bell. ''We expected the teams to have a similar approach.'' Myanmar, meanwhile, faces a crucial match in which where they will need to secure their first points if they are to compete for a top-two finish in the group. Recovery will be key for the Southeast Asians, who put up a disciplined defense against reigning champions Japan but a dip in energy in the second half saw them concede four more goals to lose 5-0. Myanmar is familiar with the Korea Republic, having suffered a 7-0 defeat in the final round of the Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers. ''The Korea Republic is another strong team, and we've played against them once in the Olympic Qualifiers,'' said assistant coach Bo Bo Aung.

''We will first discuss our mistakes in the previous match (against Japan), and make improvements for the next.'' 

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