Suwon: With a supportive South Korean crowd behind them, Naegohyang Women's FC of North Korea rallied past Suwon FC Women of South Korea 2-1 at the top Asian women's club football tournament just south of Seoul on Wednesday. And Naegohyang head coach Ri Yu-il came away impressed with South Korean people's enthusiasm for women's football.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Naegohyang overcame an early deficit to squeeze past Suwon FC Women 2-1 in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Women's Champions League at Suwon Stadium in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul. As the first match between women's football clubs of the Koreas to take place south of the border, the match drew a large group of South Korean civic group members, in addition to football supporters.

Those from civic groups mostly cheered for the North Korean side, waving flags bearing Naegohyang's logo and holding up banners welcoming the Pyongyang-based club to South Korea. At Tuesday's prematch presser, Ri had said he wasn't paying much mind to plans for civic group members to attend the match to cheer on Naegohyang, insisting he and his team were only here for football.

After the victory, Ri acknowledged the level of passion shown by the South Korean crowd. "As you know, it was a very intense match and we were too caught up in it to be too conscious of the cheering," Ri said. "However, I felt that people here have such a high level of interest in football."

Naegohyang were badly outplayed in the first half, managing just one shot attempt while Suwon fired 10. But after Haruhi Suzuki put Suwon on the board in the 49th minute, Choe Kum-ok and Kim Kyong-yong each found the back of the net for Naegohyang to complete the comeback.

"As head coach, I appreciated the way our players competed in the rainy conditions at the home stadium of the opposing team," Ri said. "Everyone focused really hard and tried their best to execute our strategies."

Naegohyang will face Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan in the final, scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Suwon. The Japanese club routed Naegohyang 4-0 in their group-stage meeting last November, and Ri said his players will have their work cut out. "Strategically, we still have a lot of problems offensively and defensively," the coach said. "We have to fix them in the coming days and will try our best to play an even better match in the final. We are still a young team with little experience, and I hope we will use this victory as a stepping stone for the future."

Kim Kyong-yong, Naegohyang's captain, said it took a total team effort to pull out the win. "This was a difficult match," she said. "But we all competed as one in order to win and we were able to accomplish our goal."

Choe, the other goal scorer for Naegohyang, chimed in: "We believed in our abilities. If we stick together as one, then we shouldn't have any problem in the final."