It is only the first day of the Women U-20 FIFA world cup but lot of positives to draw out of the tournament so far with four games played on the first day.
In the opening match of the tournament, Korea DPR edged Finland 2-1 at the National Soccer Stadium Toronto with all three goals scored in the first 30 minutes of the encounter.
The Asian team opened the deadlock in the 15th minute through Kim So Hyang who headed home from close range a cross from Choe Un Hwa.
12 minutes later, Korea DPR moved further ahead when Choe Yun Gyong 25yard shot hit the underside of the Finnish goalpost and went in making it a difficult opening 27 minutes for Finland.
Finland only playing in their second tournament at this level won’t accept defeat easily as Sini Laaksonen put them back into the game a minute after Korea extended the lead.
Laaksonen struck from 20yard to find the top corner and made it 2-1 giving a glimpse of hope to the Europeans.
Despite all effort by Finland to level up the game, the Asians held claiming an important victory.
In the second match of the day, Germany had a sweet revenge against the USA with a 2-0 win.
Germany started the match brightly before the USA girls later got into the game with a well-balanced first 45 minutes ending goalless.
Germany started the second half brightly and deservedly got the lead in the 65th minute through Lena Petermann 9 minutes after a horrible miss from skipper Lina Magull.
USA came close to equalising but was confined to defeat with Theresa Panfil’s great run from the midfield before an excellent finish in the 90th minute.
The first African side of the two in the tournament had to play a well-supported host nation, Canada but the Ghanians proved to be stronger as they piped Canada to a 1-0 victory.
The host nation had more of the possession in the first 45 minutes but a tap in from close range by Sumaila after 22 minutes of play was the only goal produced by the match.
A steady match that could have gone either way considering the late surge by the Canadians in search for a goal but Ghana held on well.
Football household name Brazil faced China in the last game of the day. Brazil got in front after 66 minutes through the number 9, Byanca who got a reward for the consistent pressure on the Chinese defence.
Brazil looked to be in control at this point but just as they were brazing up to celebrate an important win, China substitute, Zhang Zhu struck in the 89th minute to end the game 1-1.
Later today, the Nigeria super falconets will square up against Mexico by 12midnight.
Other matches of the day will be between New Zealand and Paraguay, France and Costarica while England will face South Korea in the earliest fixture of the day.
