Scotland women beat Korea in Nations Cup in Santiago

Scotland 2-0 Korea

A comfortable 2-0 victory saw Scotland women get their first ever Nations Cup win, as they beak higher-ranked Korea in Santiago, Chile. Goals from Sarah Jamieson and Fiona Burnet gave Scotland the win, who next face New Zealand on Thursday for a place in the semi-finals.

It was a good opening quarter for the Scots with the team pressing well and looking comfortable in possession.

The first chance went to Scotland and good pressing allowed Charlotte Watson to play the ball across goal for Ava Findlay, but her effort went narrowly wide of the left post.

Jess Buchanan was called into action as the quarter reached its conclusion. A Korean penalty corner routine opened up a near post shooting opportunity, but Buchanan in goal blocked it well.

Scotland’s momentum continued into the second quarter. A great pass by from the right by Rebecca Birch found Fiona Burnet but her low shot was well saved.

Less than a minute later and Scotland bagged the opener. A powerful solo run by Sarah Jamieson saw the striker finish into the bottom left corner with a thunderous strike for 1-0.

Scotland’s good pressing continued into the second half and before long it was rewarded with a second goal.

Jamieson charged down a loose back pass, then moved in on goal until the ball broke to Burnet off the goalkeeper, who swept the ball home for 2-0.

Korea enjoyed some good possession at the start of the final quarter but the Scots defence managed the threat well.

The longer the quarter went on the more comfortable Scotland looked, and they saw the game out for a solid 2-0 victory.

Player of the Match, Sarah Jamieson, said, “We’re delighted. It’s our first win at our first Nations Cup, and after feeling we could have done better in our last game I’m really proud of how we bounced back

“We had a good plan. We don’t play often against teams like Korea, so we had to think on our feet a lot, but we’re proud of the performance.

“New Zealand in the next game will be a different challenge, but if we keep our confidence on ball to take our chances, we can build on this. It’s all to play for.”

Head Coach Chris Duncan said, “I’m thrilled with how we attacked and approached the game against a tricky opponent. We controlled and managed their threat well; we won the ball in good areas and shut their strengths down well. We could have probably scored more so there’s work to be done to be more clinical as in other games we might not generate as many chances. You don’t beat higher ranked teams all the time so it’s a really good day from that perspective, and a real confidence boost.

“The last time we played New Zealand was at the Commonwealth Games and it was a really close game – we lost 1-0. We were very competitive and felt a little hard done by in that game, so there’s definitely some unfinished business and we’ll use that as fuel for Thursday, which is very much a winner takes all to get to the semi-finals. So, we’ll have a go.”

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