AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup
Lee Da-young’s side will next take on Chinese Taipei on Tuesday while Philippines face defending champions DPR Korea.
Korea Republic established control early on with the opener coming after six minutes when Park Na-young’s raking ball from defence found Jang Ye-jin with keeper Leah Bradley blocking the initial attempt but Baek Seo-yeong sidefooted home the rebound.
Baek provided the finishing touch again in the 14th minute after Bradley’s punch from Han Guk-hee’s free-kick fell straight at her feet, the midfielder calmly finding the bottom corner.
Forced to defend deep for most of the first half, Philippines did have one rare foray forward which saw Khloe Rivera’s cross-cum-shot from the right fielded by alert Korea Republic custodian Lee Seung-a.
Baek, however, was on fire and completed her hat-trick in the 34th minute with a wonderful strike into the top corner after the Philippines failed to deal with Lim Ji-hye’s cross from the right.
Group C: Korea Republic v Philippines
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Philippines regrouped after the break to defend with more discipline but were only successful till the 55th minute, with Kim Min-seo releasing Lim into the box whose shot crashed against the post with the rebound smashed home by the impressive Baek.
A jinking run from Kim in the 67th minute set up Lim for a shot that was parried by Bradley straight into the path of Kim Hee-na, who slotted home from an acute angle.
There was an opportunity for Philippines to get a late consolation when centre-back Jeon Ah-hyun underhit her back pass to goalkeeper Lee but Louraine Evangelista dragged her shot wide as Korea Republic got off to a five-star start.
