SEOUL, - South Korea crushed Thailand 10-1 to open their women's football Olympic qualifying campaign in China on Thursday.
Forwards Casey Yujin Phair and Chun Garam each scored a hat trick, helping South Korea to a breezy win in the first Group B match in the second round of the Asian women's Olympic football qualifying tournament at Xiamen Egret Stadium in Xiamen, China.
Kang Chae-rim chipped in two goals, while substitutes Lee Geum-min and Moon Mi-ra had a goal apiece in the second half.
Thailand scored their lone goal during second-half added time.
South Korea, ranked 20th, easily handled 46th-ranked Thailand, but the real battle has not even started. Up next will be North Korea on Sunday and world No. 15 China next Wednesday.
Though unranked due to their lack of international play in recent years, North Korea knocked off South Korea 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in China, on Sept. 30. In 20 inter-Korean meetings, South Korea have managed just one win against three draws and 16 losses.
Against China, South Korea have lost 29 out of 41 meetings, while registering just five wins and seven draws.
The second round features three groups of four nations. The three group winners, plus the best runner-up team, will move on to the third round.
South Korea must beat one of North Korea or China to have a shot at finishing in second place in Group B.
The two winners of the two-legged third round, scheduled for February 2024, will punch their tickets to Paris.
Women's football joined the Olympics in 1996, and South Korea have never played at the quadrennial competition.
Phair, born to a Korean mother and an American father, put South Korea in front on 33 minutes with her first senior international goal, after rolling a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Tiffany Sornpao from just inside the box.
At 16 years and 119 days old, Phair became the second youngest player to score for the South Korean women's national team.
Chun doubled the lead three minutes later, and then on 39 minutes, Kang made it 3-0 for South Korea with a shot from the right wing.
After the restart, Kang set up Chun's second goal of the match on 49 minutes. About five minutes later, Kang redirected a cross from Jang Selgi with her knees to make it 5-0 South Korea.
Phair tacked on the 6-0 goal after stripping Sornpao of the ball deep in the area and slotting it into the empty net on 56 minutes.
Phair completed her hat trick on 66 minutes, when she took a through ball from Lee Geum-min and beat Sornpao with a right-footed shot.
Lee joined the scoring party two minutes later to put South Korea ahead 8-0, and Moon Mi-ra made it 9-0 on 72 minutes.
Chun then netted her third goal of the day by heading home a Choo Hyo-joo cross on 75 minutes.
Rinyaphat Moondong foiled South Korea's clean sheet bid during injury time.
Source: Yonhap News Agency