Philippines 0-3 South Korea
By Alyce Collett 5/3/26
Above: Jeon Yu-Gyeong (#15) celebrates after scoring against the Philippines. Photo: via AFC.
South Korea is two from two so far in the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup after downing the Philippines 3-0 thanks to goals from Jeon Yu-Gyeong, Park Soo-Jeong and Mun Eun-Ju.
South Korea was able to translate its dominance in possession into dominance on the scoreboard, and although the Philippines were more competitive in the second half than the first, they still could not translate it into any goals.
The action was very even initially, with plenty of back and forth action between the sides.
However, both sides had different but very distinct game plans of working the ball to goal.
South Korea was favouring going down the right side of its formation when going into attack, with Ko Yoo-Jin, Choo Hyo-Joo and Jeon Yu-Gyeong having big roles to play.
Meanwhile the Philippines were looking to take a more central path to goal, trying to find the feet of the likes of Sara Eggesvik and Chandler McDaniel.
As proceedings settled, South Korea started to dominate attacking play and really started to pile the pressure on a very compact Philippines’ defence.
Jeon Yu-Gyeong eventually got her reward with the first goal of the match, and after some strong footwork allowed her to work around a few Philippines’ defenders, she then nutmegged a couple of others and perfectly struck the ball into the back of the net and past the outstretched arms of Olivia McDaniel.
South Korea did not have long to wait for a second goal, when Park Soo-Jeong had a shot from outside the 18 yard box that went straight into the back of the Philippines’ net. All of a sudden, what had been a pretty solid performance defensive performance from the underdogs thus far had turned into a complete disaster.
It almost got even worse yet five minutes later, but Kim Shin-Ji’s goal was ruled out thanks to offside.
The Philippines did work their way into attack a few times later in the first half, but ultimately spent most of the first half deep in defence, and went into half time with plenty to think about if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.
Possession was pretty even in the early minutes of the second half. The Philippines made some attacking substitutions at half time and it seemed to improve things as they went within centimetres of getting a goal back. However, a cruel bounce meant that the ball bounced away from the goal line instead of into the back of the net.
South Korea had their own moment of going close to scoring without actually scoring, but Son Hwa-Yeon’s shot was stopped by a great save from McDaniel.
However, it would be mere moments before South Korea did get that third goal. The subsequent corner after Son Hwa-Yeon’s goal was initially punched away by McDaniel, but ultimately not far enough and after getting caught in a pack of players McDaniel was unable to stop the tap in from Mun Eun-Ju.
Mun Eun-Ju’s goal proved to be the final nail in the coffin but both sides did continue to attack hard, with both sides having some chances that went agonisingly close to being goals but were not.
Teams: PHILIPPINES (4-3-3): O.McDaniel, Cowart, Long, Eggesvik, Frilles, C.McDaniel, Beard, Pasion, Wunsch, Markey, Guillou. Substitutes: Bradley, Meollo, Sawicki, Pino, Cesar, Oca, Guy, Castaneda, Hawkinson, Curran, Carpio, DeFazio, Ramirez, Villapando, McSwigan.
SOUTH KOREA (4-3-3): Kim Min-Jung, Ko Yoo-Jin, Choo Hyo-Joo, Kim Jin-Hui, Lee Min-Hwa, Jung Min-Young, Kim Shin-Ji, Park Soo-Jeong, Jeon Yu-Gyeong, Mun Eun-Ju, Son Hwa-Yeon. Substitutes: Woo Seo-Bin, Shin Na-Yeong, Park Hye-Jeong, Casey Phair, Ji So-Yun, Choe Yu-Ri, Song Jae-Eun, Jang Sel-Gi, Choi Yoo-Jung, Ryu Ji-Soo, Noh Jin-Young, Kim Hye-Ri, Kang Chae-Rim, Lee Eun-Young, Kim Min-Ji.
Scorers: Jeon Yu-Gyeong 12’, Park Soo-Jeong 15’
Referee: Lê Thị Ly (Vietnam)
Attendance: TBC.
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