Five-star Korea Republic thump Argentina to open Cup of Nations

Korea Republic have made a blistering start to the Cup of Nations, swatting aside Argentina 5-0 at Leichhardt Oval.

A double to Ji Soyun led the way for the East Asian outfit who piled on four second-half goals in the rout.

Korea Republic showcased their skill right from kick-off and took all of four minutes to make it count.

Despite a hint of offside it was a clever move by the Taegeuk Ladies and expertly finished off via a thumping shot from Moon Mira.

Korea Republic were not afraid to pass their way out of trouble, at one point going from being swamped in defence to having a shot on goal all via a series of short passes.

Argentina ramped up their pressure in an attempt to unsettle their opponents and even created a couple of half-chances of their own as the half came to an end.

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Korea Republic should have doubled their lead shortly after the re-start but Argentine goalkeeper Vanina Correa was alert to disrupt a one on one opportunity.

There was nothing she could do on 53 minutes however as Korea Republic doubled their lead thanks to Son Hwa-yeon, who rounded Correa and rolled the ball into an empty net off a breakaway.

The South Americans barely had time to catch their breath before they were picking the ball out of their net again, Lee Geum-min's cross finding Lee So-dam who blasted it into the bottom corner.

Any Argentine hopes of the onslaught ending were quickly ended on 70 minutes, Ji showcasing stunning technique to evade her defender before finding the back of the net with a toe poke.

Korea Republic finally ended the scoring with 15 minutes to play when Correa played a poor pass out of defence, forcing her to tip a resulting shot onto the crossbar but into the path of Ji, who notched up her brace with a lethal finish.