rewrite this title North Korean test now lies ahead for Matildas as China go some way in answering their doubters

SYDNEY — We weren’t sure what to expect from either China or North Korea coming into their meeting on Monday.

Their pedigree of the latter in women’s football gave us some kind of framework, as did their recent successes at both an U17 and U20 level, while the former were the defending champions. But both had entered into this competition with question marks, North Korea coming in from a long exile from senior competition and China in indifferent form since being crowned queens of Asia for a record-setting ninth time.

And after facing off with minnows Uzbekistan and Bangladesh in their opening two games, we had yet to see them receive a proper acid test. Just how good, really, was coach Ri Song-Ho’s side? How good was Ante Milicic’s? Could we consider them genuine contenders for the tournament proper?

Across the next 90 minutes, we got our answer.

Yes, the Chinese look like they’re, at the very least, capable of making anyone coming for their crown earn the privilege, their 2-1 win over North Korea in Western Sydney stamping their authority over Group B and sending them through to the knockout stages with a surge of momentum.

In the process, they sent a warning to the Matildas, watching on from their team hotel as they waited to discover the identity of the opponents they would face in Perth on Friday evening. And they probably lit a fire under the North Koreans, who will now face the Australians in West Australia, with a place in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the line.

Much of the discussion, probably, will centre not on the performance of Milicic’s side and instead on the bizarre end to the first half, one that saw the North Koreans stage an extended protest on the sideline after their attempted offside trap on a Chinese free kick, after VAR review, went bust, and put them behind. The flag initially raised as the ball nestled in the net, they thought they’d got one over on their rivals, only for the all-seeing eye in the stands to get the protractor out and say, no, the goal would stand.

A furious reaction resulted, with coach Ri and captain An Kuk-Hyang leading the apoplectic protests with the fourth official. Heavy rain saturating the now static players, exaggerated points towards the big screens surrounding the pitch were made, as were sweeping motions mimicking the raising of the flag.

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Encouraged by goalscorer Wang Shuang, the majority Chinese crowd began to serenade the scene with boos, adding to the pantomime-like air that had descended over the stadium. As the referee’s patience eventually ran out, she booked Ri, decided there was no need for the remaining added minutes of stoppage time, and called for halftime — perhaps after doing the mental arithmetic in her head to determine if that was preferable to starting to flash the red cards and, potentially, seeing the entire North Korean side follow their ejected teammates off the field.

The whole bizarre incident ensured that at the interval, one of the biggest questions hanging over the game wasn’t even how the North Koreans would find the equaliser that would allow them to reclaim top spot, set up a meeting with Group C’s runner-up, and avoid the Matildas in the process. It was would they even emerge from the tunnel at all? Fortunately, their disallowed equaliser with ten minutes to go was much more clear-cut, preventing further absurdity.

But to become caught up with that one moment of madness — something Matildas coach Joe Montemurro undoubtedly won’t be doing as he settles in to start his analysis — would be to obscure that the Chinese put in a disciplined and controlled performance on Friday night.

As they faced their first real test of the tournament, the Steel Roses put forth a reminder that for all the talk of the Matildas, Japan, or the two Koreas heading into this tournament, as well as their own up-and-down form in the build-up, including the failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics that served as the impetus for Milicic’s appointment, it they who were the defending champions.

There were willing and repeated efforts both with and without the ball, neat combination play between willing runners looking to break lines, a 1.79 metre-tall striker in Shao Ziqin capable of serving as a focal point and holding the play up, closing down pressure they were willing to apply time and time again, and lost causes they were all too willing to chase. Indeed, it felt like there was a lot of ‘prove it’ in their performance.

And certainly, China was made to earn it. Straight from the opening kickoff, both sides threw themselves into every contest with an almost reckless abandon, their first real test of the tournament bringing with it an opportunity to not just measure their technical ability but also their physical level, as well as their ability to impose said attributes on a worthy foe.

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Kim Song-Gyong was lucky to remain on the pitch in just the fifth minute of the game when VAR reviewed her full-throated challenge on Shao — catching her foe’s knee briefly with her studs as she did so — only for the referee to adjudge her challenge as being worth a yellow card, only.

In the 32nd minute, they received a body blow on the scoreboard too, after they found themselves down a goal to nil when the North Koreans got out rapidly in transition. Bursting down the right quickly, Han Jin-Hong looked up and found the angle to split multiple defenders as she directed a pass across to Kim Kyong-Yong, who was clinical in firing a first-time effort into the back of the net with her side’s first proper good chance of the game.

But importantly, Milicic’s side didn’t panic in the face of the adversity of a deficit, nor the physical contest that had been playing out before its arrival. They kept their heads, something the Matildas, who showed some level of wobble in their loss to South Korea on Sunday, will need to do, when they face the North Koreans, too.

Within moments of the restart following Kim’s strike, they won a corner down the opposite end and, after some toing-and-froing in the penalty area delayed its delivery, levelled the game up when Wang’s corner was knocked back down by Zhang Rui, laid off by Shao, and fired into the net by Chen Qiaozhu.

Then, with what ultimately proved the final kick of the opening half, they went ahead when the North Korean’s attempt to play an offside trap went horribly wrong: the defence stepping up as Yao Wei sent the ball towards Zhang Chengxue in the penalty area and then watching on as the flanker cut the ball back for Wang to finish and usher in the resulting chaos.

Fortunately, avoiding further fodder for the tabloids, the North Koreans did come out for the second half and, as you’d expect, given they only needed an equaliser to top the group, came hard. But the effort from the Chinese remained, as did enough of an impetus in transition to prevent their opponents from tying their ears back completely in search of a goal.

Bolstered onward by their vocal fans, the physicality was met in kind and they even had the best chance of the second half, too: the second phase of a free kick — second phases from set pieces a constant threat all night and something Montemurro will identity as he begins to study the Koreans — landing with Wang, who skidded a low effort along that forced a good save from Yu Son-Gum.

Indeed, the Chinese were tested by North Korea. They had the fight taken to them and fell behind them. They were forced to dig deep and defend a lead after watching a bizarre protest unfold. They’ll now move ahead in the tournament full of confidence.

After having had the wind taken out of them by the South Koreans, it’s now on the Matildas to show they can do the same against the side from north of the 38th Parallel.