Casey Eugene Fair and Han Kook-hee, the “future of Korean women’s soccer,” will play as the top two players at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2024.
The Korea Football Association announced on the 3rd the final list of players to participate in the 2024 FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup in the Dominican Republic starting on the 17th (Korea time).
Casey Eugene Fair, who played in the Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup last year as a member of the U.S. professional league, was included in the list following the U-17 Asian Cup. Wonju Eun (Ulsan Hyundai High School), the captain and key striker, was excluded due to injury ahead of the final training. Eleven of the 21 players were born in 2007, eight were born in 2008, and two middle school students born in 2009, including Han Kook-hee (Ulsan Hyundai Blue Un Middle School), who was impressive as a genius soccer girl, were also selected.
The U-17 national team, led by head coach Kim Eun-jung, qualified for the World Cup finals by ranking third at the U-17 Asian Cup in Indonesia in May.
Coach Kim Eun-jung said, “There is no easy team in the World Cup, but we thoroughly prepared with the help of many people as we returned to the U-17 World Cup finals for the first time in six years,” adding, “If we can clearly implement our prepared game plan, I think it will be an opportunity for our players to take a step further beyond good results.”
Sixteen teams will participate in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with four teams playing in four groups, and the first and second-ranked teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Korea, which belongs to Group B, will play a match against Colombia on Thursday, followed by Spain on Tuesday, and the U.S. on Sunday. The first and second matches will be played in the capital city of Santo Domingo, and the third match in Santiago. 토토사이트
The national team will leave for the Dominican Republic on the 4th after the last domestic convocation training held at the Changwon Football Center from the 23rd to the 1st of last month.
Korea has advanced to the Women’s Under-17 World Cup for three times, which is its eighth time so far. It reached the quarterfinals at its first tournament in New Zealand in 2008, and won the first FIFA event in Korean soccer history thanks to the performances of Yeo Min-ji, Lee Geum-min, and Jang Seul-ki at the 2010 tournament in Trinidad and Tobago. At the most recent Uruguayan tournament in 2018, it was eliminated from the group stage with one draw and two losses.