THA 0-5 KOR: Five star Koreans seal semi spot

WUHAN - Ji So-yun scored twice as Korea Republic all but guaranteed their place in the semi-finals of the AFC U19 Women's Championship with a 5-0 demolition of Thailand.

Leading by only a goal at the break at Hankou Sports Culture Stadium, Korea netted four times in the second-half to claim their second consecutive Group A victory.

Ji saw a shot inside the box easily held by keeper Waraporn Boonsing after 10 minutes, the best of Korea Republic's early half-chances as Thailand made a resilient start.

Lee Min-sun could not find the target after the striker had nipped in behind the Thai defence to latch onto a long ball and the Koreans came even closer to breaking the deadlock after quarter of an hour when Lim Seon-joo headed a corner against the inside of the post.

Korea did take the lead one minute later, however, when a Thai defender's mis-directed header fell to Kang In-hae (pictured right) in the box and she fired into the bottom corner, although Ratchanok Rattanapant's desperate last-ditch challenge as the midfielder shot seemed to help the ball in.

Lim glanced Ji's clipped cross wide six minutes later and Waraporn did well to parry the latter's powerful strike from inside the box in the 35th minute after Park Hee-young's deep cross was retrieved by Kim Jin-young.

Ji's shot was then well blocked on the stroke of half-time after some neat approach work saw Lee Min-sun play the forward in.

Korea doubled their lead three minutes into the second-half with an exquisite move that culminated in a beautiful backheel from Lee Min-sun that allowed Ji the time and space to calmly sidefoot into the corner of the net from close range.

The third came in the 59th minute and was another well taken goal as Park Hee-young took down Lee Eun-kyung's deep cross from the left with her chest on the edge of the box, burst past two defenders, rounded Waraporn and flicked the ball into the empty net.

Three minutes later, it was 4-0 as Kim Jin-young cut inside the full-back on the left edge of the box and curled a right-foot shot into the top corner.

It was fast becoming a rout as Korea netted a fifth after 64 minutes. Kim Jin-young left Kanniak Boonma for dead and her delightful cross meant Ji could not miss with a close-range header at the far post.

Waraporn denied Ji a hat-trick with a good reflex stop after the striker's feint had created space in the box before Tannekarn Dangda, who had plugged away valiantly up front all game, hit prone team-mate Rattikan Thongsombut in the head when presented with a clear sight of goal.

Waraporn held substitute Jung Hae-in's effort at the second attempt as Korea ran out comfortable winners following a comprehensive display.