South Korea’s women’s soccer team, looking to advance to the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup for the first time in eight years, departed for the “land of showdowns” on Tuesday.

The team, led by head coach Colleen Bell (England), departed through Incheon Airport this afternoon. Dressed in dark navy blue suits, the players responded to the cheers of their fans as they saw them off.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will kick off on June 20. South Korea, ranked 17th by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), will compete in Group H against Colombia (25th), Morocco (72nd) and Germany (2nd).

The team will face Colombia on Sept. 25 in Sydney, followed by Morocco on Sept. 30 in Adelaide and Germany on Sept. 3 in Brisbane.

Upon arrival in Australia, Belo Horizonte will have a day off on the 11th and will begin acclimatization on the 12th.

On the 16th, the team will play a behind-closed-doors assessment against the Netherlands, ranked ninth in the FIFA rankings.

South Korea, who first qualified for the Women’s World Cup in 2003, will be making their third consecutive (2015-2019, 2023) and fourth overall World Cup appearance. Their best result was a round of 16 finish in Canada 2015. They will be looking to reach the round of 16 for the first time in eight years.

Belo Horizonte came from behind to win 2-1 against Haiti in their World Cup qualifying match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Aug. 8.

In their final domestic exhibition match in front of 9,000 fans, the Belo Horizonte fell behind to Haiti’s first goal, but came back with back-to-back goals from Ji So-yeon (Suwon FC) and Jang Seul-ki (Hyundai Steel) in the second half.

The team also won a mock test in preparation for their first opponent in the group stage, Colombia.

The South Korean women’s national soccer team has been preparing for the World Cup for nearly four years with “high-intensity” training under the guidance of Bell, the first foreign coach in the team’s history. “High Intensity – Challenge Higher and Stronger” is the slogan for the tournament 메이저사이트.

The golden generation, including women’s soccer icon Ji So-yeon and Europeans Cho So-hyun (Tottenham) and Lee Keum-min (Brighton), are confident of an upset.

Goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi (Hyundai Steel), the oldest Korean player to play in the World Cup (38 years, 9 months), and long-haired striker Park Eun-sun (Seoul Metropolitan Government), who is playing in her third World Cup in eight years, are also determined to burn their last flame.

Before departing, Park said, “Every time I go to the World Cup, I’m always more excited than nervous. My goal is to do my best and perform well without getting injured,” she said.

Cho So-hyun said, “Now that I’m about to leave the country in front of many fans and cameras, I feel like it’s the World Cup. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m excited.”

“The most important thing is the first game against Colombia. It’s very important to start off with a good score in the first game,” he said, adding, “The players understand the importance. They want to win,” he emphasized.

Bell added: “We have two weeks to prepare. It’s very important. We have two weeks to get the players a little bit sharper. We have two weeks to refine our tactics and make sure we are a difficult team to play against,” Bell said, adding, “Right now, we just want to win the first game against Colombia.”