SYDNEY (AP) — Myong Yu Jong completed a first-half hat-trick to set North Korea on course for a 3-0 win over Uzbekistan on Tuesday in its return to the Women’s Asian Cup for the first time since 2010.
Head coach Ri Song Ho has a North Korea squad featuring players he guided to the Under-20 Women's World Cup title in 2024.
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Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova receives treatment from a trainer during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Uzbekistan's Dilrabo Asadova right, battles for the ball with North Korea's Chae Un Yong during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Myong Yu Jong, centre, scores from the penalty spot as Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Zarina Saidova dives during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Myong Yu Jong, right, kicks the ball past Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova to score her team's first goal during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Ri Myong gum, left, and Uzbekistan's Umida Zoirova compete for the ball during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea won continental titles in 2001, 2003 and 2008 but hasn't played at the Women's Asian Cup since losing the final to Australia 16 years ago.
A ban following doping infringements at the 2011 Women's World Cup resulted in North Korea missing the 2014 Asian Cup. It failed to qualify for 2018 and missed the 2022 tournament because of travel restrictions imposed in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent strong results at the youth level — including back-to-back Under-17 World Cup titles in 2024 and last year and the Under-20 title — have increased the confidence within North Korea's young squad.
Myong's opening strike in the sixth minute followed a well-worked combination on the right.
Kim Kyong Yong passed wide for Chae Un Yong and then angled back into the box to meet a cross with a diving goalbound header that deflected off an Uzbek defender and bounced perfectly for Myong to fire over the goalkeeper.
Within minutes, Uzbek goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova collided heavily with a teammate and needed treatment on her head and neck as she hunched down on the field. She was carried from the field on a stretcher with a protective neck brace on.
After a delay of about six minutes, the game restarted and Myong added penalties in the 24th and 41st minutes to make it 3-0 at halftime.
After a penalty was awarded for hand ball in the 40th, the 22-year-old Myong scored from the spot with a shot to the left that beat the diving goalkeeper in an almost repeat of her earlier attempt.
The Uzbek defense tightened up in the second half and held the North Koreans scoreless.
Defending champion China was playing Bangladesh in the later Group B match.
On Monday night, Zahra Ghanbari and her Iran team stood while their national anthem played at the Gold Coast, a long way from the war that started on the weekend with a major attack by Israel and the United States.
Before the opening 3-0 loss to South Korea, Iran head coach Marziyeh Jafari declined to comment on the military strikes or the death of her country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying the squad needed to focus on the tournament.
Jafari said the match against the 2022 runners-up was a tough opener. It won't get any easier, with Iran getting two days off before facing host Australia at the same venue.
“All in all, it was a good game. (South) Korea played very well and I ultimately congratulate them,” she said. "But I hope that going forward we can recover in the next match.”
The Australians are coming off a 1-0 win over Philippines in the tournament opener that attracted a tournament record crowd of 44,379 in Perth, with hometown star Sam Kerr scoring the only goal.
Australia playmaker Amy Sayer said the Iranian squad deserves sympathy and respect for continuing to play the tournament.
“Our heart goes out to them and their families, it’s a difficult situation and it’s really brave of them to be able to be here and to perform,” Sayer said Tuesday. "They put on a really strong performance (against South Korea), even with the political climate that’s going on and the struggles that they might be going through.
“I think we’re excited and looking forward to the game on Thursday ... the best we can do to contribute is to just give them the best game of football that we’re able and to show them the respect on the field."
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Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova receives treatment from a trainer during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Uzbekistan's Dilrabo Asadova right, battles for the ball with North Korea's Chae Un Yong during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Myong Yu Jong, centre, scores from the penalty spot as Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Zarina Saidova dives during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Myong Yu Jong, right, kicks the ball past Uzbekistan's goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova to score her team's first goal during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
North Korea's Ri Myong gum, left, and Uzbekistan's Umida Zoirova compete for the ball during the Women's Asia Cup soccer match between North Korea and Uzbekistan in Sydney, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan.
The State Department announcement online said the decision came “due to safety risks.”
The State Department has urged Americans across the Mideast to leave over the ongoing war with Iran.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has acknowledged coming under attack from Iranian drones Tuesday and urged Americans to avoid the diplomatic post for the time being.
The Saudi Defense Ministry earlier Tuesday said the embassy was attacked by two drones.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone strike early Tuesday as it kept striking targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.
The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, which did not release further details. It follows an attack the day before on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possible prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.
Many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast have been hit by Iran in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes, with recent targets including two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remain stranded.
Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before briefing members of Congress about the Iran operation.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed dozens of people in Lebanon.
“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization on Migration as she called Tuesday for the international community to press for de-escalation.
“Millions are already displaced in the region,” she said.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran’s top diplomat on Monday shared a photo showing graves he said were for more than 160 girls killed during a U.S.-Israeli strike on a school in Minab. “Their bodies were torn to shreds,” Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister, said on X.
In Israel, three young siblings killed by an Iranian strike were being laid to rest at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Monday night.
The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.
Iranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured.
Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.
“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.
Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”
Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.
“We had to take the action now and we did,” said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
The conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, though there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country’s Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.
An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday morning, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.”
Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.
An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on U.S. military facilities.
Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Washington and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report. Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo.
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
