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North Korea‘s women’s football team refused to resume play for several minutes in the dying seconds of the first half of their 2-1 loss to China at Western Sydney Stadium on Monday, protesting a VAR-confirmed goal that proved decisive and left the squad facing host nation Australia in the quarter-finals of the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Perth on Friday.
The flashpoint came in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time at the CommBank Stadium in Sydney, when China captain Wang Shuang poked the ball past North Korean goalkeeper Yu Son Gum following a Zhang Chengxue lay-off from a lofted free kick.
North Korea’s players were furious, believing the build-up had been offside. After the assistant referee initially flagged, the decision was reviewed by the video assistant referee and overturned, with the goal standing. The moment sent North Korea’s bench into uproar. Coach Ri Song Ho stormed the technical area, earning a yellow card from Vietnamese referee Le Thi Ly, and his players refused to leave their half for approximately four minutes before the half-time whistle was eventually blown.
North Korea were visibly unsettled heading into the break and were unable to recover in a second half in which China’s greater composure and tactical discipline controlled the tempo. The defeat left North Korea as Group B runners-up behind a Chinese side that finished the group stage with a perfect nine points, and confirmed Friday’s quarter-final draw at Perth Rectangular Stadium, a venue North Korea will enter as the visiting side against a Matildas squad that will have near-certain crowd support.
The match itself had begun brightly for North Korea. Han Jin Hong broke down the right flank in the 32nd minute and cut the ball back for Kim Kyong Yong, who finished from close range to give North Korea the lead. The advantage lasted just two minutes. Forward Shao Ziqin teed up fullback Chen Qiaozhu, who struck from outside the penalty area and put the ball into the bottom right corner to level immediately. From that point, neither side could find a second goal until Wang’s controversial intervention four minutes into stoppage time.
North Korea appeared to equalise through 19-year-old Choe Il Son in the 80th minute, only for the effort to be ruled out after a second VAR review confirmed she had been marginally offside. It was the second time in the match that technology had overruled the field decision against the North Koreans, deepening the sense of grievance that had built through the second half.
Ri, speaking to reporters after the final whistle through an interpreter, did not repeat his sideline protests but stopped short of withdrawing his criticism entirely.
“If that kind of situation happens again in tomorrow’s match, we will follow the referees, the match official’s decision, and respect it,” he said. The comment implicitly acknowledged that his conduct on Monday had not met that standard. VAR was introduced to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup for the first time at this edition of the tournament, and the technology has generated controversy across multiple group stage matches.
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For all the drama in Sydney, North Korea arrive in Perth as a genuinely formidable opponent. The squad is participating in their first AFC Women’s Asian Cup since 2010, returning to the senior continental stage after years of international isolation during which they nonetheless accumulated an extraordinary record at youth level. Ri has deployed the same starting eleven in all three group matches, and the consistency of selection has produced results: North Korea won their first two group games, scoring freely, before Monday’s defeat. Striker Myong Yu Jong scored a hat-trick in their opening win over Uzbekistan and leads the tournament’s golden boot race on four goals, level with Australia’s Alanna Kennedy.
The teenager Choe Il Son, whose disallowed goal against China highlighted both her dynamism and the fine margins of the VAR era, played in both North Korea’s Under-17 World Cup victory in Morocco in 2024 and their Under-20 World Cup triumph in Colombia earlier that year before breaking into the senior squad.
“We know Australia are a formidable team, so we will give our best to support each other and perform at our highest level,” she said. “We have talent on our side and we’ve been preparing carefully for the match. We’re excited to show what our team can do on the pitch.”
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Australia’s path to Friday is different in character but no less demanding in circumstance. Joe Montemurro’s side finished second in Group A after a 3-3 draw with South Korea denied them top spot on goal difference, meaning they avoided China’s side of the draw but will face a North Korean team that is fresher in its tactical preparation of Australia than the Matildas are of them. Matildas midfielder Clare Wheeler acknowledged the challenge of the unknown: “They’re a bit of a dark horse. Not many of us have played against them in recent years. We watched the game on Monday. We’re not really sure what to expect.”
The last competitive meeting between Australia and North Korea was in March 2016, a World Cup qualifier that the Matildas won 2-1 through goals by Michelle Heyman and Katrina Gorry. Seven members of Australia’s current squad were also part of that 2016 group. The most storied meeting between the two nations, however, remains the 2010 AFC Women’s Asian Cup final, which Australia won on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Sam Kerr — then making her earliest international appearances — is the only player from that occasion still active at this tournament. She remains the centrepiece of Australian football’s commercial identity and the player most closely watched heading into Friday’s match.
The stakes extend beyond a semi-final berth. This edition of the Women’s Asian Cup doubles as Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, with the top six finishers booking automatic places. The quarter-final losers will contest play-in matches to determine the final two direct qualifier spots and two Asian representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs. For North Korea, a nation that has participated in three Women’s World Cups and won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups in back-to-back years, the prospect of missing the senior tournament would register as a significant setback despite the youth-to-senior transition the programme is navigating.
The quarter-final between Australia and North Korea kicks off at Perth Rectangular Stadium at 6:00 p.m. local time on Friday, March 13. The winner will advance to a semi-final against the quarter-final winner from the opposite side of the draw. No team from outside the top four ranked nations in Asia has yet reached the semi-finals of the competition, though this edition has produced several unexpected scorelines in the group stage.
