Kuala Lumpur: Australian coach Alistair Edwards is confident his players can stay fresh for their crucial semi-final against DPR Korea in the AFC Under-19 Women’s Championship at Kuala Lumpur Cheras Stadium on Saturday.

The unbeaten Australian side have played two afternoon games under the intense heat of the Kuala Lumpur sun in winning Group B, against China (1-0 win) and Malaysia (16-0).

DPR Korea, however, had only one afternoon game, against India, and two evening clashes.

Edwards, who previously played professionally in Malaysia, said his players are feeling no ill-effects from their past three matches.

“The biggest problem all the teams face here is the hot weather and we’ve had two matches in the afternoon,” said Edwards, whose team played their last match in the evening against Jordan.

“But we are fresh for the semi-finals. We were able to rest some players and rotate the squad a bit. We showed against Malaysia that we have depth in our squad.”

Top three teams in the tournament will qualify for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship to be held in Russia from August 17 to September 3.

“We have four strong teams in the semi-finals and it’s a shame only three go through to the finals and we hope we are one of them,” added Edwards.

DPR Korea coach has seen his side hit form just in time. After a 3-0 defeat to Japan in their opening match, the Koreans beat 14-0 and then scored a thrilling 2-1 victory over defending champions Korea Republic.

“It’s good to be able to reach this stage of the competition. We hope to do our best and play fair,” said DPR Korea coach Choe Kwang-sok.

“In fact, the most important thing for us is fair play and hopefully we can do will as well.”