Korea end U-20 Women's World Cup early after loss to France

Korea lost 1-0 to France in their final Group C game of the 2022 U-20 Women's World Cup on Thursday, knocking the young Taeguk Ladies out of the tournament with a record of one win and two losses.

The Korean U-20 women's football team leave the field after losing to Nigeria in their second game of the U-20 Women's World Cup at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica on Aug. 14. [NEWS1]

Korea lost 1-0 to France in their final Group C game of the 2022 U-20 Women’s World Cup on Thursday, knocking the young Taeguk Ladies out of the tournament with a record of one win and two losses.

It was a hard-fought game at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica, with both sides struggling to get anything across for the majority of the game. France’s Esther Ashley Mbakem-Niaro finally broke the silence in the 74th minute, giving the French side the one goal they needed to advance to the knockout stage.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the young Korean side, which had seen more of the ball, at 54 percent, and spent a large part of the first half hammering on the opposition goal.

Korea had a total of 11 shots with four on target to France’s nine with two on target, but despite maintaining that edge the young Taeguk Ladies were unable to find a goal of their own to level the score and were forced to settle for an early end to their World Cup journey.

Elsewhere in Group C, Nigeria beat Canada 3-1 in their final game of the group stage to top the group, with France taking second place.

Korea opened the group stage with a 2-0 win over Canada on Aug. 11, with Mun Ha-yeon scoring for Korea alongside an own goal from Canada’s Brooklyn Courtnall.

That win allowed Korea to top Group C after the first round of games, with Nigeria beating France 1-0.

Korean then went on to face Nigeria on Aug. 14, losing 1-0 to the African side following a last-minute goal from Esther Onyenezide.

The loss knocked Korea down to third place, with France taking second with the same number of points and same goal difference, but one more in the “goals for” column after a 3-1 win over Canada. As a result, only a win against France on Thursday would have allowed Korea to progress to the knockout round.

Korea's best finish at the U-20 World Cup was third place in 2010, when the young Taeguk Ladies lost to eventual winners Germany in the semifinals and then beat Colombia in the third-place playoff. Canada, France and Nigeria have all gone one step further, all finishing as runner-up at some point in the past — France most recently in 2016.

But the nature of youth tournaments means that previous achievements offer little indication of the ability of the current squad, as the revolving door of age-based entry requirements means that the stars of one tournament have moved up by the time the next tournament comes around two years later.

With Korea headed home early, Nigeria and France will now advance from Group C to the knockout stage. Nigeria will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, with the winner of that game facing either Spain or Mexico on the other side of the bracket in the semifinals.

France will face reigning champions Japan, with the winner of that game advancing to face either Colombia or Brazil in the semifinals.

The U-20 Women’s World Cup has historically been dominated by the United States and Germany, but both countries have been knocked out in the group stage this year. Japan are the only previous champion to advance to the group stage, while North Korea, who have won twice, are not competing.

The knockout stage of the World Cup will begin on Saturday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]