North Korea is now the most successful team in Under-17 Women’s World Cup history. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty Images
Inaugural as well as defending FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup champion North Korea is now the record title holder after registering a fourth triumph in this year’s edition. They defeated debutants from the Netherlands quite comprehensively, recording the biggest margin of victory in any of the competition’s finals.
This was the first time the Under-17 Women’s World Cup was held in back-to-back years after FIFA decided to make its lowest age group World Cup an annual affair, thus providing greater opportunities to aspiring footballers around the globe. This was also an expanded edition of the tournament with 24 teams going to Morocco, among whom were four first-time participants.
While the Netherlands was one of the newcomers, they did not come in with low expectations, having won the most recent Under-17 European Championship this May. Their campaign started off with a dramatic 4-3 win over Cameroon, which was followed by a narrow one-goal loss to Mexico.
North Korea, meanwhile, won its first two games 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. So, the defending champion was all but through to the knockouts going into the final group game, but their opponents, the Netherlands, did need a win to be sure. Instead, the newcomers suffered a five-goal thrashing, largely thanks to a first-half red card. They still managed to advance as one of the better third-placed teams, but their confidence was surely dented.
Within just a few days, Oranje bounced back from that hefty defeat by sending the United States packing in the Round of 16. They took the lead within three minutes, and although their opponents did grab an equalizer, a flawless penalty shootout display saw them emerge victorious 7-6.
What followed in their quarterfinal was nothing short of extraordinary. France took the lead after the half-hour mark and certainly looked on course to advance after doubling their advantage in stoppage time, but two last-gasp goals saw the Dutch take the game to penalties once again. The shootout went even longer this time around, but the decisive twist came on the 18th attempt when Maren Groothoff made another decisive save.
The Netherlands got their revenge against Mexico in the semifinal as the scoreline read 1-0 the other way thanks to Lina Touzani’s second-half strike, thus reaching the final in their debut campaign. They were to meet another one of their groupmates, as North Korea had a much more commanding knockout run including a 6-1 win over hosts Morocco, 5-1 success against Japan and 2-0 semifinal triumph over Brazil.
The defending champions looked to impose themselves in the final from the very first whistle, adopting a direct approach to get straight at the Dutch defense. It took them just 14 minutes to open the scoring through Kim Won-sim, whose strike was very quickly followed by Pak Rye-yong for a second North Korean goal. Although they ceded some possession thereafter, they maintained control over proceedings and added a third before half-time through Ri Ui-gyong. Tournament top-scorer Jong Hyang-yu did not even need to get in on the act as her side comfortably got over the line.