Women's Asian Cup 2026: Group A Preview

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to ESPN's The Far Post Podcast. Welcome to the Asian Cup preview pods, where very excited the tournament is mere days away, which means we need to get stuck into some previews. Today's episode is all about group A, the Matilda's group. So we have a lot to say. Before we get stuck into that though, we wanna acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we're recording on today, the Wondry and Gadigal people and pay our respects to their elders past and present. For today's episode, you've got me, Merce Lodhaneck, Anna Harrington, Sam Lewis, and Angela Christian Wilkes. So my dudes, as I said, this is the group A preview. We've got Australia, South Korea, Iran, and the Philippines. So it's a big group, it's one that obviously we've been paying a lot of attention to with the tillies in it. But let's talk about this group. We'll start with Australia. We're not gonna go deep into Australia because if you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know a little bit about the Australian Women's Football Team. You might be familiar with their work. We've had our squad release, we've got a pot about that. You can go and listen to it. We know where the Matilda's are at. The coach was appointed later than everyone would have liked. We've played a fair few games, but the timing hasn't been everyone's favorite. So that's one we need to wait and see. The biggest piece of news that we did want to talk about with the tillies is the unfortunate news that Tegan Maika has had to withdraw from the squad after being named. Concussion has just kind of been unkind to her. So Tegan Maika has withdrawn. Chloe Lincoln has been called up in her place. That's the biggest kind of Matilda's news that we needed to talk about. Does anyone have anything to add to that just while the floor is open, the pot is still new. Yes, just a real shame, right? For Tegan, who looked like she was going to be our long-term number one at the Tokyo Olympics. It's just so impressive there. Has had the concussions before, been so brave in the way she's come back from it, spoken about it, opened up about it. Comes back in McKenzie Arnold's like the established number one has completely taken a chance. And then to her credit, Tegan's fought back again. She's got big club moves, Lee Aunt, the moment competing with Tiana Enla. She looked like she'd had a really quite a nice run in terms of injuries and form for a bit there was playing really well at Leon. And yeah, it's quite heartbreak. A very, really popular member of that squad, a player who should be coming into her prime years. And yet, concussions are so tricky. Like, as we know, they're complex. The recovery process is different for everyone. It's so, there's so many stages to it. And you know, you can have a little step back and that can push you back a long way. Tegan will be very familiar with those processes. And we'll know her body, we'll know ahead and what she can and can't play through and how ready she was I wasn't. And yeah, it's just devastating. A lot of pressure now on McKenzie Arnold. But to be fair, she thrived on that in 2023, like being the number one goalkeeper, like having that established mantle. She's clearly gonna be that now, right? Like Chloe Lincoln has got, I think three caps, Jada Wyman's own cap. Like, this is McKenzie Arnold's spot and she's gonna have to well and truly deliver. But yeah, thoughts with Tegan Mica, who really deserve the chance to make this tournament on home soil her own after not really playing a role on field at all in the women's world cup here. So hopefully she's better soon, is all I'll say on that. - Yeah, definitely best wishes to friend of the pod, Tegan Mica, but let's crack into our group opponents. I'm going by our run down. So Angela, South Korea is the first one. That is the game that we will play on March 8th. It's the last game of the group. And I think everyone's very much got that highlighted in the e-cow. They've set some time aside to watch that one. So tell us a little bit about South Korea. - Yeah, I've found it interesting, like with each being assigned different teams across the groups. And I feel like my three teams are kind of looking at, you know, generational shifts, but at very different points. And so with South Korea, they're quite interesting. So the coach is Shin Sang-woo, and he was appointed in 2024. And it's very much being a case for him. He's kind of done what we would have liked to have seen Jo Monter-Murro-Joo. I think he's had the time, he's had the space, and he's really brought in new faces, youth into the team, but also like preserved experience. Kind of, we've seen some older, more experienced, and well-known players in the Korean squad kind of retire over the past couple of years under his tenure, but seems to have been quite a gentle shift for them. So that's really kind of been the focus around from their side in terms of coming into the tournament of getting like youth and experience. I should have mentioned off the top as well. So at the moment, they are ranked 21 in the FIFA rankings. And historically, I think South Korea, they've just, I don't know, they've always, they've been there. They've never been like juggernauts in the way that we can think of maybe a China, for example, who've had like really golden periods in terms of women's football, super successful, I guess, chunks of time. But on the other hand, they've never been fantastic. They've never been awful. I don't think we can ever completely underestimate them. They've had, I don't know, ebbs and flows over the, I guess, the past five, 10 years. But yeah, I think there'll be an interesting opponent for us. There are-- Let me-- I don't know. What do you want to know? I took a lot of-- made a lot of notes. But that's not particularly helpful when you-- OK, I'll give you more directions. That's not the big guns. Big guns, big players. Big guns. Oh yeah, OK. Big guns. Also something important to mention. So they won the East Asian Football Federation, E1 Football Championship, which is just like a smaller federation competition, just three kind of games. And then it's decided on like points and goals and blah, blah, blah. So that was their first win with the EASF in 20 years. Last time they won it was in 2005. So that was a big deal. And this is kind of like the first big thing that Shinn has won with the Korean team. And yeah, out of that, there's some interesting names that we can kind of keep an eye on. So their goalkeeper, Kim Min-jung, one best goalkeeper at that tournament. And they have-- she's a fullback, but she can also play in the mid-- she can also play in defense, you know, bit of a utility player in Jung-Seol-Gi. She won MVP at the tournament as well. So she's a bit older, I think, yet one of those experienced players will be kind of anchoring the Korean team. Obviously, a lot of Matilda's fans will-- against their will remember G-sohyeon from 2022. I don't know. The goal that she scored against Australia is burnt into my rationalist forever. What a bang, although. And yet, she's been classed for a long, long time, and she's kind of coming to the tail end of her career. And it's just immense, consistent goal scorer has that stark quality. So if you're kind of new to the Matilda's, definitely keep an eye out for her. And I'm sure the commentators will be waxingly recall about her contribution to the Korean national side as well. Yeah, who are the other big dogs? This is quite sad, actually. So Lee G-om-min, who's at Birmingham in the championship at the moment, has had previously been a captain big name in the squad, again, a more senior player. Hasn't been called up because she's rehabbing a foot, like a fracture in her foot. And if she-- the next game that she would play would be her 100th game. So that's a bit of a sad omission for the squad. But yeah, a lot of-- I guess in terms of Korean, what I'm interested to see is how they play, because there's been a lot of chat about their pressing game and how they're going to apply that. And their preparation coming into the tournament has been a bit-- not all over the place, I would say, but there's been a real focus on coming up against top opposition, which has saw them get bumped five-nil, by the Netherlands. But then they also-- they're kind of doing this-- thinking the same thing as Australia in terms of coming up against similar rank to opponent, some played wails, and got a one-all draw. I don't think they were really looking for a win there. But they haven't been going for the small fish in the recent prep at least. So yeah, I think that's-- yeah, in terms of strategy, they're looking for the press. And yeah, they do have players like G. So who on who can just turn a game on its head? So they really can't be underestimated for Australia. And I think it's going to be one of those games where from an Australian perspective, focus, keeping focus will be really important as well. Sheen has also talked-- he's like-- he doesn't really care about games that are stable. He wants his team to be able to adjust their play. And sometimes that might look a little bit chaotic as well. So that's something. But obviously, we also had the two friendly last year against them, which we won pretty comprehensively. So probably coming to that game with a bit of confidence. But yeah, with all teams with the materialism, let's not get complacent. I don't think complacency is like good fit any kind of game at this level. But yeah, what other questions do we callification journey? They qualify just for runners becoming runners up at the last tournament. So nothing interesting there. And there is a bit of tea with them. This was a bit of a news item a couple of months-- like last month. There was kind of the leak of the document that was sent internally by the Korean PFA in September. So that kind of got circulated a little bit. And there was kind of rumors, discussions of whether the team would boycott. Once it dig a little bit further into it, it wasn't super substantial. This, like, the sense that they're going to not be coming to Australia. But the actual content of what they were asking for is super reasonable. Like stuff like, hey, don't put our players who have knee injuries in economy on flights. And hey, can we have kids that weren't worn by the youth team, stuff like that? So the PFA also came out more recently and did a statement being like, we don't like how the media ran with this. And they used it as an opportunity to beat down a women's team. And we don't think that's very nice. And also all of the stuff being discussed is pretty reasonable. So I don't think that Korea are not going to come to the Asian Cup. It was just one of those stories where certain things kind of took the focus over others. But yeah, I like what the Korean PFA are doing. I mean, all PFA is a great. But there are certain nations at this tournament. They don't have a thing like a football association. So the value of that is really visible with Korea and their recent engagements between them and the Korean Football Federation. Amazing. Love it. That game is going to be really exciting on March 8th. But let's move back in time a little bit. Our second group game will be against Iran, much fear on the Gold Coast. Sam, teach us about Iran. Yeah. So Iran come into their second ever Women's Asian Cup in pretty difficult circumstances. But anyone who's been paying attention to the news knows that since December of last year, protests have broken out across the country in response to the pretty authoritarian government, which has created some really difficult circumstances for folks across the country. Particularly economically, there's been a massive downturn. Their local currency has absolutely crashed. And the people have decided that they've had enough and so there have been a huge number of people turning it on the streets to protest the government and in response, the government has cracked down on a lot of those protests as well. I've got a preview story with the Guardian about Iran coming out this week. So if you want to learn a little bit more about that bigger context, go and have a look there. But for the purposes of this episode and the sort of structure that we're going with, Iran come into the tournament as one of the lowest ranked sides in Asia, they're ranked 68. And the journey that it took for them to get here in terms of qualifying was actually a bit controversial. They only just squeezed into qualifying for this final series after finishing on equal points in their group with Jordan. So they both finished with nine points. But instead of goal difference being the first differentiator between teams, which is what we often see around the world, it was actually head-to-head results. That was the first thing. And so because Iran had defeated Jordan in their final group game 2-1, they actually qualified instead of Jordan, even though Jordan had a higher goal difference or like a better goal difference than Iran did. So yeah, like I don't know when that decision was made. I don't know why, but that's the way in which Iran landed where they've landed. One of their most important players is actually their goalkeeper, Zara Khadharvi, who is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of Iranian football. She currently plays for Bam Khatun, which is the Iranian Women's League club champions. And they're the biggest club in the country. They've won 11 titles since 2011. They absolutely dominate the competition. And the core of their squad pretty much makes up the core of the Iran Women's National Team as well. So Khadharvi is like a set whole bunch of footballing records, including in 2019, she supposedly broke a national record for clean sheets, so like not conceding a goal in almost 1,000 minutes of football, which is like amazing. If you think that a full game is 90-ish minutes, that's quite a significant number of games back to back. She also apparently has one of the longest throws of any goalkeeper on record in Iran. So I really hope that we see that. But as of recording this episode today on Sunday, the 22nd of February, the team hasn't actually been publicly selected yet, so we don't know whether Khadharvi will be in the final squad. But something that might affect her selection is the fact that at the end of last year, she did make some public comments supporting the anti-government protests that were her sort of unfolding across Iran. And the Iranian Federation, to my understanding, does not take kindly to that kind of public statement. And so she may be left at home as a punishment for her support of what's happening over there. There are a couple of other players who are worth keeping eye on in particular Fatima Shaban, who's a midfielder and she was the top goal scorer in qualifying back in June to live last year. So potentially another important player for them. Not a fun club note and something that A-League Women fans will maybe have some memories of. Bam Khahtun, the club I mentioned earlier, played against Melbourne City in the 2024-25 AFC Women's Champions League. And they only lost two won, which is pretty amazing, considering the vast difference in investment and resourcing and circumstances of those two teams. So yeah, I think the fact that the core of that club side makes up the core of the national team is particularly important now, given they've had a really disrupted preparation period coming into the Asian Cup. So the chemistry that they've developed over the course of their most recent league season, you think would be really important. So I guess in terms of some interesting facts about the team to provide some more history, some more context, Iran made their Asian Cup debut at the last edition in 2022 in India. And they were actually the only team to play against India, where they had a near-all draw in the very first group stage game. And they're full their first ever tournament point, which was a huge deal back in Iran. They became like overnight celebrities before India had to withdraw from the whole tournament because their whole squad got COVID. So they, yeah, Iran sort of made a little bit of history in a few different ways in that game. But the journey for them to actually get to that point was enormous, incredible. Very similar to a lot of other Asian nations. Iran actually had quite a flourishing women's football community in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They had a national league that was run by the Iran Damsels and Ladies Association, which is just so special. Well, the national team was founded in 1971, which was a good couple of years before even Australia's national team was formally recognized. But in 1979, and this sort of connects to what's currently happening in the present day, the Iranian Revolution really affected women's sport and women's rights more broadly with the entire industry, basically collapsing, as the nation was sort of subsumed by a really conservative Islamic leadership. So it would take decades before women were permitted to play football again. And when they were, there were very heavy restrictions on them, including the fact that all players and all staff were required to wear the hijab. And that was a requirement that would affect them in quite a different way in 2011. So originally, it was an opportunity for women to be able to play football, wearing the head covering. But in 2011, FIFA actually banned Iran from an Olympic qualifying match against Jordan, because their players were wearing hijabs. FIFA came up with a whole bunch of excuses about why they weren't permitted from religious symbolism to safety concerns. But all of those reasons were challenged over the course of a couple of years by a multi-year campaign led in part by Moe Adod, former vice captain of the Matilda's, and friend of the pod, who ultimately helped to lift the ban in 2014. And two years later, the first Iranian women's team competed in hijabs at the under-17s women's world cup, poetically held in Jordan. So that's kind of a really good, I think, capture of some of the bigger social issues that the Iranian women's team and the generational struggle of these players to even just get to stages like these that a lot of people maybe don't recognize or appreciate. And I guess the last thing is that their head coach, Marzia Jafari, was awarded the 2025 AFC Women's Coach of the Year. She was the first Iranian to do so. She was also the head coach of Bam Kutun, who, yeah, qualified for the AFC Women's Champions League finals as well. So a really interesting team. I don't think there's a huge amount of expectation on them to get out of the group, but the fact that they're here all is pretty miraculous. Yeah, that's a huge, it's all huge. And we look forward to the article on the Guardian explaining it a little bit more than what you have. But let's move to our final, the final opponent in this preview, but our first group game of the tournament, which is the Philippines, much first in Perth Harrow, talked to us about the Philippines. Yeah, I'd say the Philippines are much more familiar for those of us here in Australia. And yeah, fascinating hearing about around this. I think you'll have enlightened a lot of people with that. Yeah, Philippines, very familiar opponent, basically been active since the early 1980s. Asian Cup Day, boo in 1981. They've since made 10 appearances. So they've been regulars at this tournament, right? But they didn't really, they weren't really prolific until the most recent edition. We know under Alan Stadget, they made the Australian, obviously. They made the St.Fanals qualified for the World Cup. It was a huge deal. There's been a lot of more investment in this team over the past four, five years. And that's been financial. That's been in terms of scouting. That's been in terms of playing opportunities, camp opportunities. We know that they're now playing under Mark Tulkaso, a Melbourneian, another Australian for a Western United coach. For a while, they were juggling the two roles, but it's now just the Philippines coach. So yeah, they come in probably a little bit unfortunate to have been drawn with Australia and South Korea in the sense that it does make their task to qualify for the World Cup or getting out of the group, per se, that bit tougher. But they're a fascinating team. In their own right, as I mentioned, scouting has been a big thing for them over the past few years. You take a look and it is just littered with players playing in Europe, but especially America. One thing they've tapped into really well is the Philippine and diaspora, especially in the US. A lot of college players, players playing in the sort of the second tier in America in particular as well. I think Olivia McDaniel and Chandler McDaniel, probably the two players that local audiences we most familiar with, they were both each end of the field super important in terms of the Philippines run to that World Cup and then what they're able to do in New Zealand. Probably the face that people know best, Serena Bolden won't be there, wasn't able to get back in time from that ACL she suffered in April, which is a huge blow because she's quick, she's smart, she scores goals and is a real like, probably football cult figure in Australia now, but just like she's the barometer of that team, right? So real blow for them that she's not managed to make it through. They are currently ranked world number of 41. They've sort of been up and down a little bit over the past, yeah, a couple of years since that World Cup, Olympic qualifying where they lost eight nil to the Matilda's in Perth, probably a low point of the tour cast, so era and they've had to sort of take a step back, sit with that and then really knuckle down and to be fair they did that, they smashed their way through qualifying for the Asian Cup, they beat Saudi Arabia 3-0, they smashed Cambodia 6-0 and had a 1-0 win over Hong Kong, top their group, no dramas, away they go straight in here, but the thing that's been really exciting for them was they won gold at the Southeast Asian Games, like quite recently, which was a huge moment, they've basically got the heroes treatment after the venture underneath the desk, if you're wondering. They got the heroes treatment when they were back in Manila, huge for the country, massive celebrations, and that set them up really well, they've been winning recently, they've had some pretty decent friendly results, but just getting silverware, if huge for this team, they'll come in with a lot of confidence, we know that they'll be, I think smarter, from last time they played the Matilda's, speaking to Mark Tokaz, or the media caller, a month or two back, they sat with that eight nil result and they went, well, you can't let this happen again, right? So you expect them to probably sit there, use their pace, and they've got plays that are, they've played pretty high levels, a lot of people remember, Jackie Zavitsky in midfield that used to play for Western United, it was a really, really tough customer plays in Canada, the Captain Ali Long has got a lot of caps, I mentioned them at Daniel, sorry, because there is another one, and obviously Angie Beards played throughout Europe and is now back with Brisbane Raw. So yeah, you expect them to have a fair bit of fan turn out, Philips in the national team, do tend to get a lot of support with no there's a huge diaspora here in Australia. That was one of the things Tokaz are called for for anyone with Philips in a blood quote to get out there and support them, especially in that opening game in Perth, where they will have the Matilda's first up. So yeah, they do have their work cut out to get out of the group, but they are also the type of team that can cause a bit of chaos, can grab a result, they're disciplined, they've got players that have been playing at good levels, be it college football, be it US secondary, be it in Scandinavia. So yeah, I think they'll come in with a fair bit of confidence. And as I said, they've been in training camps for honestly, on and off for months now. So they're about as well prepared as they could be. Yeah, so I think a team that I'm excited to see, I think they'll be, you know, it's a bit like your favourite players, favourite player. I think everyone enjoys watching them play, they bring joy to this tournament. They were so good to watch at that World Cup and the previous Asian Cup. So yeah, it's exciting. I think it'll be tough, but yeah, if there's any team that can sort of create a bit of an upset and be a bit of a banana skin for the big teams in this group, being the Matilda's in South Korea, it's a Philippines. - Definitely agree with that banana skin take there. Just to wrap this up, what games are we excited to see in this group? Obviously the Matilda's are there. So yeah, watching the Matilda's exciting, you know, but are there any other games in this group that you're like, interesting, seated? - Yeah, I mean, the Matilda's game against South Korea, right? - Right. - That's the headliner of Group A. Especially given the Matilda's haven't exactly performed well against South Korea at previous Asian cups. If we want to reopen that Spendora's Box of Trauma memories, obviously South Korea knocked the Matilda's out of the 2022 edition in India, and we have not forgiven the whole nation of South Korea for that injustice. So yeah, I think there'll be a lot riding on this. Hopefully it's going to be a stellar game, in Sydney as well at Stady, Australia. So that'll be the blockbuster. Hopefully they get it done. And it'll probably be the game that decides who finishes top of the group, which, you know, I don't think we've talked about permutations just yet, but if Australia finish top, they'll be able to stay in Sydney pretty much for the rest of the tournament, though it may mean that they face arguably the tournament favorites in Japan sooner than the final, whereas if Australia finish second in their group, they are going to have to go all the way back to Perth and therefore, so will we. But it might mean that they'll have to play potentially a lower ranked side in like a North Korea or a China potentially, and then reaching maybe Japan in the final. So two parts that have pros and cons, all of which are going to pivot on that South Korea result. So yeah, it's going to be a good one. I mean, I think the Philippines South Korea, I know, again, like you say, I'm just a Matilda's opening game is great with the Philippines, but I'm fascinated by how Philippines and South Korea will match up on the Gold Coast. Because I think the Philippines, even if they cover lost first up, will go into that game believing they can jag a result. Like, I just feel like this group, as much as it's clearly there's two big dogs. And then the Philippines, then for all to run are very much the minows of this group. I feel like the Philippines will feel like they, if they can be disciplined, sit deep, it may not be a thriller in that sense when they play South Korea. But that could be a game that really turns like group on its head, especially, you know, we like to think that it could be a all or nothing game, that fervor on Australia, South Korea, you know, winner tops the group, blah, blah, blah, both teams are already qualified. But I feel like there's still that little bit of chance for chaos. And I know I've been flared up, playing the Philippines as a bananaskin game for Australia. But I feel like it also is for South Korea. Like, you have that danger of looking too far ahead. And then all of a sudden, your biggest problems are in front of you, right? And they're tough, they're physical, they're quick, they're well coached. And yeah, the fact that they've been in these camps for so long, they've had players like a really tough selection process, even though they haven't got problem, they've got a nice mix of experience and youth, players hitting the scoreboard. So, yeah, I feel like that game could also could also go that way as well. Because South Korea haven't exactly been prolific in terms of scoring either, right? So all it takes is just, yeah, you jag a goal, and then you sit deep. And Asian football gets pretty difficult. Yeah, I think one of the things Shins talked about recently is we just need to score early because like, and then, but also they've not been very clinical at all in recent games. So that is, and it sounds like they haven't really figured it out just yet. So bit of a time bomb there, but also with, I had another thought. I think, oh, that was my thought. I thought, I think South Korea will get out of the group, I think, but it will be entertaining, for sure, how they do so. And yeah, I think this is actually quite an exciting group on the balance in terms of being competitive and interesting. I definitely agree with that. But that is Group A done, previewed. As I said, if you want to know more about the Tilly's, we have the squad pod out now. You can go listen to it. And in the coming days, you will also have Group B and Group C previews. So make sure you keep tuned for those. But as always, wait over on asp.com.au and the asp.app. You can find us on Spotify, Apple, and all of the usual pod spots. If you like what we do, leave a review, subscribe. If you want to chat to us, wait at the Far Post pod on all social media. But until next time, see you. [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]