South Korea Overtake Nigeria In Group C After Beating Canada

South Korea defeated Canada 2-0 to overtake Nigeria who had pipped France 1-0 in the group C opener.

South Korea took advantage of set pieces to hand Canada a 2-0 loss in group second game on Thursday at the FIFA under-20 Women’s World Cup.

The first goal came in the 53rd minute after a string of Korean corners. Goalkeeper Anna Karpenko came out to get the ball but failed to corral it and instead the ball bounced in off unlucky defender Brooklyn Courtnall, the daughter of former NHL forward Russ Courtnall, for an own goal.

The Canadians were burned on another corner in the 62nd minute with Mun Hayeon rising high above substitute Holly Ward, possibly with the help of a little shove, to head the ball home at the far post.

Ward grabbed her head in despair at the goal.

The Canadians pressed in the dying minutes but were unable to breach the Korean defence.

In the earlier Group C game at Estadio Nacional, Nigeria edged France 1-0 in the rain on an 85th-minute goal by Flourish Sabastine. The winning goal came five minutes after a French goal from a goalmouth scramble was waved off for a foul on the goalkeeper after video review.

Korea moves into first place in Group C on goal difference over Nigeria. Canada is fourth, below France on goal difference.

Torrential rain forced a one-hour pause during the first half of the Nigeria-France game, resulting in the Canada start being pushed back 30 minutes to 8:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. ET). It was 20 degrees Celsius and wet at kickoff.