Japan’s title defence is about to get serious now that the quarter-finals playing field of the 2023 Asian Games is all set.
The top-seeded nation in Asia (based on the FIFA women’s rankings) right now is one of the heavy favourites to win it all again, but they will face stiff competition in the quarter-finals after cruising through the group stage.
Standing in the Samurai Ladies’ way are the Filipinas, who continue to make waves after making noise at the Women’s World Cup a few months ago. Whoever comes out on top will take on the winner between China and Thailand.
Meanwhile, South Korea and North Korea will get to settle their differences on the football field anew, and they will take on the winner of the Chinese Taipei-Uzbekistan match.
Learn more about these eight final teams in today’s SBOTOP preview of the Asian Games quarter-finals.
Japan set to face a feisty Filipinas squad
The Samurai Ladies are arguably the best team coming into the quarter-finals. They started their campaign with back-to-back 8-0 victories against Bangladesh and Nepal before whacking Vietnam with a 7-0 scoreline on Thursday.
With three wins, Japan stood tall in Group D, and what’s even more impressive is that they have the best overall goal difference so far in this tournament, as they recorded 23 goals while conceding none on the other side of the pitch.
What makes Japan scary is that they have a lot of weapons, which was obviously shown in the previous round. Their top scorers so far are Haruka Osawa, Yuzuho Shiokoshi, and Remina Chiba, with four goals apiece.
Kotono Sakakibara is right behind them with three goals, while Maya Hijikata, Momoko Tanikawa, and Reina Wakisaka have also notched two goals each.
Meanwhile, the Filipinas had two wins and one loss in the group stage.
They started with a 3-1 win over Hong Kong, which actually should’ve been a draw to be honest, followed by a 5-1 loss against South Korea and a convincing 3-0 win against Myanmar on Thursday.
The standout players for the Filipinas so far are Sarina Bolden and Sara Eggesvik, who happen to be the duo who produced the historic Women’s World Cup goal against New Zealand.
Bolden is in the running for the Golden Boot with three goals, while Eggesvik has two goals, both scored against Myanmar.
But for the Filipinas to have a chance against Japan, they must buckle up defencively, and goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel will have her hands full in trying to prevent Japan from producing a lot of Asian Games 2023 highlights.
South Korea and North Korea renew hostilities
South Korea and North Korea, which remain technically at war amid ongoing political tensions, are going to meet for the first time since a 1-1 draw in 2017.
Despite both coming out on top of their respective groups, the Asian Games 2023 odds have given the Pyongyang outfit the slight edge because they only lost one of their 15 previous encounters against the Taeguk Ladies.
Both teams went undefeated in the group stage, with North Korea having the better goal difference (17 to 12), albeit because they’re in a watered-down Group C.
North Korea’s Kim Kyong-Yong stands at the top of the ongoing Golden Boot race with six goals, but South Korea have weapons too, in the form of Son Hwa-Yeon (3 goals), Ji So-Yun, Moon Mi-Ra, and Mun Eun-Ju (2 goals apiece).
China and Chinese Taipei on course to meet in the semi-finals
China and Chinese Taipei won all of their group stage games, and it is the former who has been more impressive because they scored 22 goals while conceding none from their opponents.
China destroyed Mongolia in the opening game with a score of 16-0 to earn the biggest victory thus far in the competition and then defeated Uzbekistan with a score of 6-0.
Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, recorded a 2-1 comeback win against India before eking out a narrow 1-0 result against Thailand on Wednesday.
Wang Shuang has been China’s talisman with five goals, while Wang Shanshan and Yan Jinjin have four goals apiece. Lai Li-Chin and Su Yu-Hsuan scored one goal each for Chinese Taipei so far in this tournament.
China never lost to Thailand across all competitions (W14, D1), while Chinese Taipei never won against Uzbekistan in their past four meetings. There’s a huge chance that China and Chinese Taipei will square off in the semi-finals. But first things first, they must take care of business in the quarter-finals.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
