North Korea get sweet revenge on Black Maidens
North Korea ended Ghana’s dream of a semi-final berth at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup (WWC) in their quarter-final encounter in Amman yesterday.
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A 94th minute strike from substitute Ja Un-Yong restored North Korea’s lead after Gifty Acheampong equalised after playing catch up when Kim Po-Ui put her side up through a spot kick.
The winning goal struck deep in injury time, handed the North Koreans sweet revenge over the Ghanaians who beat them 2-0 in their group encounter in Costa Rica two years ago.
Ghana were always seen as rank outsiders for this match but they began brightly and came close after just seven minutes when Philicity Asuako was narrowly off target with a drilled 35-yard free-kick.
While they pushed for a goal, the Maidens also had to keep an eye on their defence as the Koreans also pushed for the lead and eventually had it on the 33rd minute when Grace Acheampong was adjudged to have fouled Pyon Un-Gong and Kim Po-Ui made no mistake from the spot, sending Kayza Massey the wrong way with a powerful shot into the left-hand corner.
The Koreans did well to protect that lead, but the Maidens also pushed for the equaliser and Gifty Acheampong turned her earlier goff into joy, sneaking in to glance a delicate header past Ok Kum-Ju after Asuako had lofted the ball into the 18-yard box with an acrobatic overhead kick.
However, just as the confidence of the Maidens grew, hoping to push for extra time and possibly, penalties, disaster struck as Ja Un-Yang broke their hearts with a low free-kick which beat Massey who had moved off her line to end what was turning out to be a good campaign for a challenged Maidens.
Significantly, the quarter-finals matches played so far have been sweet revenge for the victors as Venezuela also ended the dominance of their rivals, Mexico with a 2-1 win to set up a clash with North Korea, while Spain also beat Germany 2-1, avenging a loss they suffered at the hands of the European U17 champions when they clashed earlier this year.
Defending champions, Japan remained on course to defend the title after beating England 3-0 in their game yesterday to set up a semi-final clash with Spain.