Home » Asian Cup 2022, India: A Recap of the Group Stages

Asian Cup 2022, India: A Recap of the Group Stages

AFC Women's Asian Cup, Football, Sports / By /

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 is one of the biggest tournaments conducted by the AFC for all countries within the confederation. The Asian Cup promised to be one of the biggest and most exciting tournaments to start a big year of women’s football, and it certainly has not disappointed us.

MATCHDAY 1

The tournament kicked off on January 20th in Mumbai, and the opening game was a crackling derby between China PR and Chinese Taipei. With its experience of most wins in the AFC, China toppled Taipei with a dominant scoreline of 4-0, with Wang Shuang scoring two goals while Wang Shanshan and Zhang Xin scored one each. With the afternoon game starting with a bang, all eyes turned to hosts India playing against tournament debutants Iran. In a stunning spell, Iran held India in a deadlock and gained a point. India had great chances to score, but Iranian goalkeeper Zohreh Koudaei had other plans. She kept her team within the game the entire time while making some mind-blowing saves.

Unnati’s Media Tribune Experience: We celebrated the almost Indian goal headed by Grace Dangmei. Still, Koudaei made a brilliant save in a turn of events, and the media tribune roared. She was named the Player of the Match for her excellent performance. With that, we concluded Matchday 1 in Group A.

January 21st, the action began in Group B and Group C; Australia had a highly dominating performance over Indonesia with an 18-0 scoreline. The Matildas started their campaign with a strong performance with nine different goalscorers. Japan speeded through Myanmar and scored five goals, while Korea scored three against Vietnam. The Philippines, in a turn of events, scored a late goal against Thailand to take all 3 points, and with that, we conclude Matchday 1.

Unnati’s Media Tribune Experience: Watching the Matildas on Matchday 1 was a big highlight and had me a bit starstruck. The Indonesian team never gave up, even when the Aussies relentlessly attacked. The Indonesian goalkeeper got a special mention from me as she made sure to be very vocal throughout the game and encouraged her teammates to keep going. On the other hand, the Aussies had a comfortable win and were happy to have started the tournament well.

MATCHDAY 2

Matchday 2 started with Iran facing China, a debut team vs a team with the most experience. The game ended precisely how everyone thought it would. China put seven goals in the back of Koudaei’s net while Iran struggled to keep up. Regardless, they did the best they could.

The next game of the day was hosts India facing Chinese Taipei. A must-win for the Indian team, the day couldn’t have been worse than expected for the national team and their fans. India had to withdraw from the tournament after having 13 Covid positive cases. As per the AFC rules, their games were now considered null and void, meaning Iran lost their point from the opening game, and Taipei didn’t gain any points.

Unnati’s Media Tribune Experience: Chaos was the word that can be used to describe everything that went down on January 23rd 2022, in the Media Tribune. It was chaos, from not allowing the media to enter the stadium until a said time to absolutely zero updates and more rumours. Every person in the Tribune was upset and heartbroken at India’s exit. One of the rare opportunities for qualifying for the WWC2023, we had our dreams shattered as fans.

Nonetheless, the tournament had to move on, and Matchday 2 continued. Myanmar held Korea by only allowing two past their goal, while Thailand scored four against Indonesia. Japan once again dominated their game and beat Vietnam by 3-0. Australia vs the Philippines was the last game of Matchday 2. Alan Stajcic’s team was ready to shock the Matildas as they held them brilliantly to a draw at halftime. But the Aussies found a way back in the second half and scored four past the Filipinos. And with that, we conclude Matchday 2.

MATCHDAY 3

Matchday 3 had brought in some mouthwatering clashes that were predicted to be cracking and exceeded everyone’s expectations. On January 26th, Chinese Taipei vs Iran was the first game. It may have shown us that Iran has a long way to go, but it was a step in the right direction. All eyes turn to January 27th for the remaining matches. The Philippines scored six against Indonesia in a dominating performance which saw them taking the second spot in Group B after Australia. The final game of Group B was group leaders Australia against Thailand. The Matildas scored two goals past the Thai, but in a last-minute, game-changing moment, Nipawan-Panyosuk scored a goal for Thailand in injury time, allowing Thailand to make it through to the quarter-finals.

Unnati’s Media Tribune Experience: The stadium was on its feet and cheering when Thailand scored that last-minute goal. A special mention to Caitlin Foord, Ellie Carpenter and Sam Kerr, who made the volunteers’ tournament by taking photos with them. Please Note: All covid protocols were followed, and the players stood at a distance to take these said photos.

Group C, also called the group of chaos, indeed turned out to be precisely that. Both games of this group ended with a draw. Japan vs Korea saw 1-1, with Korea equalizing in the 85th minute. While Vietnam vs Myanmar saw a chaotic game to end with 2-2.

With India having withdrawn, the quarter-finals’ qualification rules had changed. The draw was announced, and the games for the quarter-finals were as follows

  • Japan vs Thailand
  • China vs Vietnam
  • Australia vs Korea
  • Chinese Taipei vs The Philippines

And with this, we conclude the exciting group stages of the Women’s Asian Cup 2022, India. Everything that took place in the quarter-finals is coming soon.

Check out all Women’s Asian Cup 2022 content by clicking here.

 

Written by Unnati Naidu

Thanks for reading.

Follow Sporting Her on social media, links below:

Check out some of our latest articles