China W vs South Korea W kicks off this afternoon (KST) at Shizuoka, a neutral-ish venue for both. Funny detail: they arrive after the same kind of day. A few days ago China went down two-nil to North Korea and Korea went down two-nil to Japan, and each has had about the same time to reset.
What I keep coming back to is where Korea's goals came from. The big scorelines (five against Myanmar, six against Bangladesh, six against Uzbekistan) all came against teams well below them. Against the top of Asia it was a draw with North Korea and then that loss to Japan. China is almost the mirror image: low-event games, roughly a goal conceded per match recently, but nothing scored against Vietnam or North Korea.
So I don't read this as "who's in form". The question is whether Korea's usual route, stretching the game early and getting chances in volume, still works against a side that rarely gives that space away. And if it doesn't, does China have enough to punish a Korea back line that still conceded three to Uzbekistan in a big win? Whoever scores first changes the other team's job completely, and neither side has shown it likes chasing.
No lineups out yet. I'll look again once they're announced, because a changed front line would shift this a lot.
