Article body analysed
International Women's Friendly: Wales v South Korea from Malaga, Spain. Kick-off 18: 00 GMT. Wales and South Korea meet for the first time in international women's football. Rhian Wilkinson's side are looking to end a seven-game losing run. Wales have made seven changes from their friendly defeat to Poland last time out. South Korea have three centurions in the starting line-up, Kim Hye-ri, Jang Sel-gi and all-time leading scorer Ji So-yun. Sophie Ingle's header from point-blank range gave Wales an early lead, from Lily Woodham's corner kick. Wales waste countless opportunities to double their lead, coming closest when substitute Elise Hughes struck the post. South Korea make Wales pay for their missed chances, as Kim Min-ji comes off the bench to level. Dafydd Pritchard Wales 1-0 South Korea Hannah Cain looks to run at the South Korean defence, but is eventually bundled off the ball. From the next phase, Carrie Jones' fine cross from the right finds Cain, but her volley goes wide. After a nervous opening five minutes, Wales have really taken control of this game. Wales 1-0 South Korea Sophie Ingle almost has another! South Korea don't deal with Wales' short corner and a deep cross to the back post finds Ingle, but her header is held by Kim Min-jung. Wales 1-0 South Korea Kath Morgan Former Wales captain on BBC Radio Cymru I've got to give praise to Lily Woodham there. The standard of that cross, it was just curving in, Sophie Ingle had no South Korea players around her and she was never going to miss from there. Sophie Ingle Seconds after seeing a shot saved, Sophie Ingle scores! After her initial effort is tipped over the bar, Lily Woodham swings in an inviting corner from the right and Ingle is unmarked to nod in from close range. Wales 0-0 South Korea Now it's South Korea who play with fire, giving the ball away in their own penalty area. That allows Sophie Ingle a shot on goal and her top corner-bound effort is well tipped over. Wales 0-0 South Korea Wales are playing themselves into trouble in these early stages, with goalkeeper Olivia Clark giving possession away more than once already. Shaky start from Rhian Wilkinson's side. Wales 0-0 South Korea Nia Jones Former Wales international on Match of the Day Wales For me it's more about the performance tonight. Wilkinson was very vocal about how disappointed she was in that last performance against Poland. So an improvement on that will be really important. Wales 0-0 South Korea South Korea are on the attack immediately but Kang Chae-rim's shot is blocked. Wales 0-0 South Korea I don't know about you but Malaga on a Friday night looks quite nice. No, I'd rather rainy south Wales too. Wales 0-0 South Korea Belgian referee Caroline Lanssens blows her whistle and it's Wales who get us under way. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) Want to know a bit more about South Korea? Well, they are ranked 21st in the world, 11 places higher than Wales, and they've qualified for four World Cups, including the previous three in succession. Their most capped player and all-time leading scorer is Ji So-yun, who has a whopping 74 goals from 169 appearances. That's a seriously impressive return when you consider she plays in midfield, and you might recognise Ji as she's on loan at Birmingham City from Seattle Reign at the moment. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) The players are out on the pitch in Malaga. Time for the anthems. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) This will be the first meeting between Wales and South Korea in a women's international football fixture. After this game in Malaga, Wales move on to Jerez for a friendly against Switzerland on Tuesday. The two matches form part of Wales' preparations for the 2027 Women's World Cup qualifiers that will take place in 2026. Wales are in Group 1 of League B and will face Czech Republic, Albania and Montenegro. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) Having lost to Australia and Poland in October, Wales are now winless in 11 matches since beating Republic of Ireland 1-0 in December last year - a result that clinched a place at the Euros. That was Wales' first appearance at a women's major tournament, though they suffered humbling defeats by the Netherlands, France and England as they exited at the group stage. As Rhian Wilkinson's side are yet to break that losing run, this is the longest Wales have gone without victory in 22 years. "We're not happy with it [the losing run]. We're aware, it's frustrating and it feels like a burden we don't want to carry, " says Wilkinson. "We want to break that streak, of course we do. But equally, this year has included the Euros, Nations League A and top opposition and it's because this team is really on a journey. "It's never a straight journey, it's always about pushing standards, and we have had little setbacks. " Read more: Losing run a 'burden we don't want to carry' Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) South Korea head coach Shin Sang-woo has also picked a strong and experienced team, featuring three players with more than 100 caps to their name. Those are defenders Kim Hye-ri and Jang Sel-gi and all-time leading scorer Ji So-yun, who is currently on loan at Birmingham City from Seattle Reign. South Korea: Kim Min-jung; Kim Hye-ri, Ko Yoo-jin, Shin Na-yeong, Jang Sel-gi; Choi Yoo-jung, Kang Chae-rim, Kim Shin-ji, Song Jae-eun; Ji So-yun; Son Hwa-yeon. Subs: Woo Seo-bin, Ryu Ji-su, Casey Phair, Choe Yu-ri, Kim Jin-hui, Choo Hyo-joo, Kim Mi-yeon, Lee Min-hwa, Noh Jin-young, Park Soo-jeong, Lee Eun-young, Kim Min-ji, Lee Su-bin, Jeon Yu-gyeong. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) Wales boss Rhian Wilkinson makes seven changes from last month's 5-2 friendly defeat at home to Poland. The only players to keep their places are goalkeeper Olivia Clark, Hayley Ladd, Carrie Jones and Ffion Morgan. After experimenting against the Poles, it is a more familiar and experienced looking side with the likes of captain Angharad James, Sophie Ingle, Rhiannon Roberts and Lily Woodham returning. Wales: Clark; Roberts, Evans, Ladd, Woodham; Ingle, James; F. Morgan, M. Griffiths, Jones; Cain. Subs: Middleton-Patel, Lyons-Walker, Estcourt, E. Morgan, Powell, Ross, Holland, Rowe, Teisar, Mc Ateer, Wilding, Francis. Wales v South Korea (18: 00 GMT) Noswaith dda, good evening, 좋은 저녁이에요, buenas noches - we could go on, but we have got some international football to bring you. Wales' women are taking on South Korea in a friendly in Malaga, Spain. Nice work if you can get it. This is no holiday for Wales, though. Not when they have lost seven matches in succession - their worst losing run since being beaten in each of their first 12 games as an official Football Association of Wales side between September 1993 and March 1996. More on that in a bit. You can watch live coverage of the game at the top of this page and, to start, let's take a look at the teams. Wales' first 2027 World Cup qualifying game is away to the Czech Republic in March Wales' winless run stretched to 12 matches as they missed a string of chances in a 1-1 friendly draw with South Korea in Malaga. Wales looked on course for a long-awaited victory after Sophie Ingle headed them into an early lead. But Welsh wastefulness in front of goal allowed South Korea to stay in the contest and, with Rhian Wilkinson's side losing their way as the game wore on, substitute Kim Min-ji headed home the equaliser midway through the second period. While Wales may take satisfaction from aspects of their performance – and the fact that they have halted a run of seven successive defeats – there will be frustration over their failure to win. Wilkinson's team are left still waiting for a first triumph since their memorable Euro 2025 play-off win over the Republic of Ireland almost 12 months ago. The run without a victory is now Wales' longest since their worst ever sequence, when they went 15 games without winning between 1997 and 2001. Nevertheless, a draw against a South Korea side ranked 21st in the world by Fifa – 11 places higher than Wales – is a creditable result for Wales as they build towards the start of their 2027 World Cup qualifying campaign next March. Wilkinson rues missed chance as Wales held to draw Wrexham's Cae Ras to form part of UK World Cup bid Fishlock can inspire 'decisions' for Wales players Sophie Ingle's goal was her seventh in 145 Wales appearances Wales did not look like a team in poor form as they caused problems for South Korea from the outset, with goalkeeper Kim Min-jeong making a sharp save to repel Ingle's drive. From the Lily Woodham corner that followed, Ingle headed home from point-blank range with Kim left stranded after just six minutes. Wilkinson had made seven changes to the team which began last month's dispiriting defeat by Poland, the Wales head coach fielding something closer to her strongest line-up in southern Spain. Her reward - for an hour - was a much more convincing performance, with Wales' only frustration in that period being the failure to build on Ingle's seventh international goal. Ingle saw a second header saved, Hannah Cain volleyed wide and Mared Griffiths and Carrie Jones both had decent efforts from just outside the area. South Korea only really threatened with one sharp counter before the break, but Gemma Evans saved her team with a fine recovery challenge on former Chelsea star Ji So-yun. Wales were on the front foot again early in the second period, with substitute Elise Hughes driving a shot against the post and Jones pulling another big chance across the face. Wilkinson must have feared her team would be made to pay for their profligacy, particularly as they lost momentum in an increasingly scrappy contest. South Korea's moment duly arrived when a short corner routine ended with Jang Sel-gi crossing for substitute Kim to head beyond a helpless Olivia Clark. Carrie Jones was one of the many Wales players who had a sight of goal against South Korea Wilkinson has repeatedly suggested that results will only really begin to matter when Wales return to competitive action in qualifying for the 2027 World Cup next spring. And nobody will be complaining about the struggles of 2025, of course, should Wales end up securing a place in Brazil in 19 months' time. But the form guide does not make pretty reading from a Welsh perspective, even if they have faced a succession of demanding fixtures over the past year. A win against higher-ranked opponents in the first camp since Jess Fishlock's international retirement would have been a timely boost for a Wales team in transition. Instead Wales were forced to make do with avoiding defeat for the first time since the 1-1 draw in Sweden in April. They have one more chance to claim victory before competitive football returns in March, when they play Switzerland in Jerez on Tuesday. The hope is that Laura Hughes, the once-capped Australia midfielder, will be allowed to feature in that game after she missed out against South Korea thanks to a delay in processing her switch of allegiance to Wales. The addition of a player of Hughes' pedigree will be a plus for Wilkinson as she looks for progress in 2026. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Manager: Shin Sang-Woo Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Rhian Wilkinson Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Shin Sang-Woo Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Manager: Rhian Wilkinson Formation: 4 - 3 - 3 Friendlies Women All competitions Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
