Korea advances to semis over Mexico
By Yoon Chul
Staff reporter
South Korea advanced to the semifinals at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Sunday, beating Mexico 3-1 in the quarterfinal in Dresden, Germany.
Rising star Lee Hyun-young scored twice and Korea’s leading scorer Ji So-yun also found the net for her sixth goal of the tournament.
Mexico grabbed a consolation goal through Natalia Gomez Junco in the 83rd minute, but it was too late to have any bearing on the result.
“My players have trained hard in preparation for the matches. This is a great day for Korean women’s football. Reaching the semifinals for the first time will surely be a great sense of accomplishment and encourage the team,” manager Choi In-cheul said on the FIFA website.
Korea opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Lee picked up the ball in front of the penalty area and faked a pass to create some space. She exploited this to send the ball past outstretched goal keeper Cecilia Santiago, into the left corner.
In the 28th minute Ji rifled a free-kick over the Mexican wall from 20 yards out to double Korea’s lead.
Lee’s second goal in the 67th minute all but killed the game off.
Lee beat two defenders to reach the ball at the edge of the penalty area, to find herself one-on-one with the goalie and slotted home for a 3-0 lead.
“The South Koreans scored early on and that made it an uphill task for us right from the start. Their finishing was better than ours and that was the key to the game, though we kept trying to go forward and gave it our all out there,” Mexican manager Roberto Medina said.
After the 80th minute the exhaustion of the Korean athletes was visible as movement slowed and they were punished by a goal. But the team regained their concentration to safely progress.
“We fought hard and we never let our heads go down but we just couldn’t put our chances away. Afterwards I told the players they should be proud of their efforts and the hard work they put into the game. We’ve had the best tournament ever by a Mexican team and they’re a young side with a bright future ahead of them,” the Mexico boss said.
“I’m very happy with my two goals and they played a big part in my team winning the match and qualifying for the next round,” Lee said
“To be honest I wasn’t even aware of how many people there were at the game today. It was incredible when we got to half time. Thanks a lot Dresden for all your support,” she added.
It is the third time for Korea to advance to the semifinals in an event organized by FIFA.
The first time was at the Men’s Under-20 World Cup in 1983, and the second was at the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002.
Korea will now face traditional powerhouse and host Germany in the final four.
Germany beat North Korea 2-0.
The semifinal is scheduled for Thursday.
On the opposite side of the draw, Colombia and Nigeria advanced to the semifinals.
Defending champions the United States lost to Nigeria on penalties.