Korea DPR beat Spain to go into Semi Finals (Post Courier 25/11/16)

Korea DPR`s U Sol Gyong ball on head (3)  and
 Spain`s Lucia Garcia  contest it out  in midair
Picture by Post Courier Photographer Mark Talia

By FIDELIS SUKINA

Korea DPR earned the first spot in the semi finals in an impressive 3-2 win over Spain during extra time in the FIFA U20 Womens World Cup.

The 3740 crowd was kept well entertained in the match with a scoreless first 18 minutes until Korea DPR showed their class in the 19th minute when a corner by defender So Yon Jon found midfielder Hyo Sim Ju who kicked the first goal, it was not until the 30th minute that Korea DPR scored their second through midfielder Hyang Sim Ri to lead 2-0.

But Spain didn’t give up with Captain Maria Caldentey leading the attack they moved up in Korea DPR territory and tried their luck with forward Andrea Falcon who gave a straight left foot kick right outside the 18 yard box, Korea DPR keeper Mong Sun Kim pushed the ball back right on to Spain forward Nahikari Garcia to put away to the back of the net.

The score remained 2-1 at half time, in the second half Korea DPR doubled up in defense and countered the Spaniards who had some good driving runs from their captain Caldentey and forwards Lucia Garcia and Nahikari Garcia.

The relentless Spanish attack was rewarded when Lucia Garcia earned her third tournament goal when again Falcon’s impressive left foot strike was kneed back by Korea DPR keeper Kim back to Lucia to score the equalizer.

It was 2-2 at fulltime, and when it went into extra time Korea DPR started to show their stamina and hard running, they managed to get past the Spanish defense with ease and used their speed out wide with substitute forward Hyang Sim Sung running on through balls through the Spaniards .

When a corner kick was pushed back by Spanish goal keeper Maria Quinones to Korea DPR forward Phyong Hwa Kim, she took the opportunity to kick a lobbed kicked that bounced right in front of Quinones wrong footing the keeper who fell down and watched helplessly as the ball struck the net for the winning goal in the second half of extra time.

Korea DPR coach Yongbong Hwang through the help of a translator said he was proud of his players adding that the result was inevitable for the team.

“It was an inevitable result and the team was well in tune with my intentions, I knew they would score when it mattered,” Hwang said

Korea DPR 3 (J.HYO SIM 18' R.HYANG SIM 30' K.PHYONG HWA 106)' defeated Spain 2 (NAHIKARI 38' L. GARCIA 63')