Womens 2007 World Cup; match 20

Group B, 18/9/07 in Tianjin.

North Korea v. Sweden

North Korea: M.H.Jon, J.S.Song, K.S.Sonu, H.O.Kong, J.R.Om, K.H.Kim (M.G.Hong 56), U.G.Ri, S.H.Kil (O.S.Kim 85), K.S.Ri, Y.A.Kim (P.S.Jong 60), U.S.Ri.

Sweden: H.Lindahl, A.Paulson (S.Johansson 69), H.Marklund, K.Westberg, F.Ostberg, T.Sjogran, N.Fischer, V.Svensson, C.Seger, C.Schelin, H.Ljungberg (S.Thunebro 40, T.Lundin 89).

Sweden were faced with the task of winning this game by three clear goals if they wanted to qualify for the quarter finals and they got the best possible start.

Only four minutes had gone when Therese Sjogran made progress down the right to send over a decent looking cross from near the goalline. M.H.Jon looked unsure whether to come or not and ended up going nowhere as Charlotta Schelin arrived at the far post to head home.

Sweden looked to press home their advantage and penned the Koreans back for the next quarter of an hour. There was no subtlety about their approach, however, and they looked intent on trying to batter their opponents into submission.

Though smaller the Koreans were able to stand their ground in the physical battle that began to develop and when they started to move forward themselves their passing and movement was far more dangerous than that of the Swedes.

When North Korea equalised midway through the first half, however, the goal came completely out of the blue.

Korea broke quickly from a Sweden free kick with U.S.Ri cutting in from the left hand side to arrow a drive over Hedvig Lindahl into the top corner from at least 25 yards.

Sweden's frustration was evident as Frida Ostberg received a yellow card for a foul and looked as though she was going to start taking hostages, with eyes straight out of Fatal Attraction. Very Glenn Close. Very scary.

Then the Swedes lost one of their top players when Hanna Ljungberg could not continue after taking a hefty blow in a midfield collision. It looked as though the knock might have come from a teammate as they went in together with one Korean for a challenge on halfway.

It also needed a good block in defence to keep Sweden on terms as North Korea continued to play the more constructive football.

Sweden needed to start the second half strongly and again enjoyed the boost of an early goal. Victoria Svensson played a precise pass into Schelin whose first touch took her past two defenders for a low finish past the advancing keeper.

This time the Korean defence looked more uncomfortable as Sweden tried to turn the screw and quickly presented their opponents with the chance to really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

M.H.Jon came over the top of her own defender in an attempt to claim a free kick launched into her box and dropped the ball at the feet of Hanna Marklund. The defender, with more time than she was aware, was only able to prod the ball straight at the one defender guarding the Korean goal.

Korea continued to look lively on the counter attack but looked anything but secure at the back. It was questionable whether Sweden had the energy left to exploit this, however.

Sweden surrendered possession cheaply inside their own half and P.S.Jong's centre gave U.G.Ri a great chance to level but, with plenty of time and space, she flashed a first time volley over the crossbar.

Svensson combined neatly with Sjogran to work herself into the Korean box but her shot on the turn flashed wide of the far post and the Swedes began to find it increasingly difficult to engineer chances.

Indeed it began to look inevitable that Korea would equalise as huge gaps began to appear in the Sweden defence as they threw players forward in a desperate effort to score.

Lindahl had to turn an effort from K.S.Ri over the bar and then repeated the save to deny S.H.Kil.

Several times the Koreans shot too soon with players spare all over the place but Sweden were running on empty and the task of scoring two more goals was clearly now beyond them.

Deep into stoppage time P.S.Jong had a great chance to level the scores but lobbed over the bar with only Lindahl to beat.

Defeated on the night it was still the Koreans celebrating at the final whistle, however.

Full Time: North Korea 1 Sweden 2