The South Korean women's football team last year had a historic run at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, reaching the round of 16 for the first time.
The ladies now aim for another milestone: going to this year's Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Since women's football was first staged at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, South Korea have never appeared at the Olympics. But head coach Yoon Duk-yeo said Wednesday there is a good possibility that the drought will end this year.
South Korea will depart for Osaka, Japan, on Friday to compete at the Asian qualifiers for the Summer Games that starts next week.
"I believe in our players' talents," Yoon said in a press meeting held at Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, the team's training camp. "We have played many games against Asian powerhouses like North Korea and Japan, and I think we're good enough to compete squarely against them."
In the final round of regional qualification for Rio, South Korea will play North Korea, Japan, Australia, China and Vietnam - in that order - in a single round-robin format. The top two teams will qualify for the Olympics.
Yoon, who has been coaching the women's team since 2013, acknowledged there is a rough road ahead for his team. Among the six nations vying for the Olympic berths, South Korea come in fifth in FIFA rankings at No. 18, after Japan (No. 4), North Korea (No. 6), Australia (No. 9) and China (No. 17). Vietnam (No. 29) are the only team below South Korea.
Putting politics aside, Yoon said that first two matches against North Korea and Japan will be important because those matches can set the tone for the rest of the tourney. The coach was looking at least a single win or two draws against the East Asia neighbors.
South Korea face North Korean on Monday and Japan two days later.
"We are looking to get two or three points in the first two matches," he said.
But history shows that South Korea will be on the challenger's side. The women have won only once against North Korea, while losing 14 times and drawing once. Since a 1-0 victory in 2005, South Korea have suffered nine straight losses.
"It is true that we had this undefined fear of North Korean football, but now it's different," Yoon said. "The level of our players has gone up and we have analyzed North Korea very well."
Against Japan, the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup champion and runner-up in the 2015 edition, South Korea have four wins, eight draws and 14 losses. Japan are also the silver medalist at the 2012 London Games.
South Korea are also underdogs against other opponents except for Vietnam, against whom South Korea haven't lost in eight encounters. South Korea's all-time head-to-head record against Australia is at 2-1-11 (wins-draws-losses), while they've gone
4-5-24 against the 1996 Olympics silver medalist China.
"Having three wins and two draws in this tournament should take us to the Olympics," Yoon said.
The 54-year-old coach announced his 20-woman squad last Friday.
Though striker Park Eun-sun and defender Shim Seo-yeon, both pivotal members at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, are missing due to injuries, Yoon believes that other players, including Chelsea Ladies FC attacker Ji So-yun, will fill their void.
"After the men's football team reached the Olympics for eighth consecutive times, the women are also motivated," he said. "Now, it's time for the ladies to achieve their goal." (Yonhap)
