Ireland face a do or die match with Italy if they are to keep their Olympic dream alive following their 5-1 defeat at the hands of Korea
Ireland hinted at producing a major shock in Canada this evening as they stole into a 1-0 lead thanks to Nikki Symmons drag-flick in the 11th minute to breach the Korea defence for the first time in the tournament.
That lead, though, barely lasted a few minutes as Mi Seon Kim’s reverse restored parity. And after that it was all one way traffic with two further goals before half-time for a 3-1 lead.
Symmons, again, was the main goal-threat after the break but was unable to pull back a goal and in the 54th minute the game was over as a contest when Hye Jin Seo netted a rebound. Mi Young Eom added one more to leave the final score 5-1.
It means Ireland must win their final pool match against Italy to have any chance of Olympic qualification and have another bite at Korea for the one remaining berth.
Afterwards, coach Gene Muller said "We had to try something different today, it was always going to be difficult to beat Korea twice in a tournament and today we went out today to learn, we tried some theories and we will hopefuly have a another bite against the Koreans."
"Italy is a critical game and we always knew it would come down to the game against Italy which is basically our semi final and that is what we prepared for."
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