{"id":232392,"date":"2026-03-09T23:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/matildas-opponent-revealed-in-farcical-scenes-as-var-sparks-stunning-on-field-protest\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:51:00","slug":"matildas-opponent-revealed-in-farcical-scenes-as-var-sparks-stunning-on-field-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/09\/matildas-opponent-revealed-in-farcical-scenes-as-var-sparks-stunning-on-field-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Matildas opponent revealed in farcical scenes as VAR sparks stunning on-field protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An incensed North Korea refused to play for several minutes in a 2-1 Women\u2019s Asian Cup loss to China on Monday, which sent them into a daunting quarter-final against hosts Australia<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Wang Shuang\u2019s controversial close-range finish in first-half injury time in rainy Sydney turned out to be the winner and means reigning champions China topped Group B ahead of North Korea. <\/p>\n

China\u2019s reward is a likely meeting with Vietnam or Taiwan in the last eight, while North Korea will have to face the Australians and a partisan home crowd.<\/p>\n

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Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Three-time former champions North Korea took the lead on 32 minutes when Kim Kyong Yong\u2019s shot squirmed under the body of goalkeeper Chen Chen. <\/p>\n

China hit back two minutes later when Chen Qiaozhu struck left-footed from outside the box and into the bottom corner.<\/p>\n

With the rain pouring down and neither side giving an inch in a physical battle, China went ahead through former Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham attacker Wang in first-half stoppage time. <\/p>\n

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North Korea’s coach R Song ho gestures as he argues with match officials. AP Photo\/Rick Rycroft<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her predatory finish was initially ruled out for offside by the on-field assistant referee, only for VAR to overturn the decision and award the goal. <\/p>\n

Wang celebrated for a second time but the North Koreans were furious, imploring the referee to look at the pitch-side monitor. <\/p>\n

Then came a stand-off with the North Koreans refusing to resume the game for four minutes as boos rang out from the pro-China crowd. <\/p>\n

With their protests continuing and after booking coach Ri Song Ho, the referee decided against playing the little time left in the half and blew for the break. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really disappointing to see that this is still a tactic being deployed by DPR Korea,\u201d former Matilda Ash Skyes said on Paramount\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany a player who\u2019s played against them has seen this sort of thing deployed before. When they\u2019re not happy with a decision they often try and force the referees into changing that decision even though it\u2019s been reviewed now by multiple officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing this is a tactic still being used and the disrespect shown to the referees at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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North Korea\u2019s head coach Ri Song-ho. Photo by Steve CHRISTO \/ AFP<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

North Korea came out for the second half and thought they had equalised with 10 minutes left, only for VAR to give offside. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very tricky moment,\u201d Ri said of the VAR drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe checked from our device, and it looked more like offside. It definitely made us very nervous and very uneasy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided that it was not the right decision from the referee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis goal was the second goal from China, so we were a bit more excited, and we made ourselves calm down for the next half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s football, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the other match in Group B, Uzbekistan thrashed tournament debutants Bangladesh 4-0 to keep their hopes alive of reaching the knockout rounds as one of the two best third-placed teams. <\/p>\n

North Korea will face the Matildas for a quarter-final in Perth on Friday at 9pm AEDT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An incensed North Korea refused to play for several minutes in a 2-1 Women\u2019s Asian Cup loss to China on Monday, which sent them into a daunting quarter-final against hosts Australia. Wang Shuang\u2019s controversial close-range finish in first-half injury time in rainy Sydney turned out to be the winner and means reigning champions China topped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-232392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}