'Helpless 1-3 Defeat to Ghana': South Korea's U20 Women's Football Team Faces Elimination from World Cup Group Stage

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korea U-20 women's national football team has been pushed to the brink of elimination from the group stage of the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

Led by head coach Park Yoon-jung, the South Korea U-20 national team suffered a decisive 1-3 defeat to Ghana in the Group C second match of the tournament held at Sosnowiec Arena in Poland at 10 p.m. (Korean time) on the 9th.

Earlier, South Korea had drawn 1-1 with France, finishing the group stage with one draw and one loss (one point), placing them last in their group. In this tournament, teams are divided into six groups of four; after the group stage, the top two teams from each group and the four best third-placed teams among all six groups advance to the Round of 16 knockout stage.

South Korea now faces a situation where they must win their final match against Ecuador, scheduled for 1 a.m. on the 13th, to have any chance of advancing to the Round of 16. Ecuador defeated Ghana, whom South Korea had just lost to 1-3, with a 3-0 victory on this day.

The outcome was decided in the second half. South Korea conceded the opening goal in the 7th minute of the second half from a right-footed shot by Sarah Niarco, and three minutes later, they conceded another goal to Ivy Osei-Owusu, causing them to falter.

Struggling to create an equalizer, South Korea instead conceded what effectively became a decisive goal in the 39th minute of the second half during a counterattack. A right-footed shot by Ruth Ampomah deflected off a defender and flew high into the net.

South Korea did manage to shake the net with a long-range shot from Beom Ye-ju (Jeonnam Gwangyang Girls' High School) taken from the right side of the arc during stoppage time in the second half, but since most of the added time had already passed, they could only be satisfied with avoiding a shutout loss.

On this day, South Korea was not only outscored by Ghana 6-23 in total shots but also trailed 3-7 in shots on target.

Meanwhile, the South Korea U20 Yeo Ja (CEO) team faced a similar elimination threat during the 2024 Colombia tournament, having lost to Nigeria 0-1 and drawn with Venezuela 0-0 before the final group match. However, they dramatically advanced to the Round of 16 by defeating Germany 1-0 in their final game.

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*This content was translated by AI.