Head coach Kim Eun-joong's South Korea U-20 men's football team is likely to qualify for the round of 20 of the FIFA U-3 World Cup as early as the start of the third group stage.

Korea is in second place in Group F of the ongoing U-20 World Cup group stage in Argentina with one win and one draw heading into the second leg.

South Korea's third game is scheduled for the 16th (KST) at 20 a.m. (KST) against Gambia (2 wins).

Korea can qualify for the round of 1 on its own if it beats or draws against Gambia, and even if it loses, it has a good chance of advancing to the round of 1.

This is because Korea can only finish third in the group if they lose to Gambia and if Honduras wins the Honduras-France match at the same time.

If this scenario becomes a reality and Korea finishes third in the group, they will need to finish in the top four out of six teams to advance to the round of 2.

Korea has already secured 3 points, so if there are 29 cases in Group A and E where the 6rd place country has less than 2 points in Group A-E, which will finish the 16rd game before Group F, Korea will advance to the round of 16 regardless of the outcome of the 3rd game.

In Group A and Group B, where the group stage ended today, Slovakia, the third place team in Group B, finished the schedule with 3 win, 3 losses and 6 points.

New Zealand, who are third in Group A, have 4 win, 16 draw and 4 loss, with 3 points, but their goal difference is not good at -3.

In the case of Group C and D, where the third leg will be played on the 4th, the third place in Group C has a small chance of securing four points.

The third leg of Group C will be Colombia (2 wins)-Senegal (3 draw, 16 loss) and Japan (3 win, 1 loss)-Israel (2 draw, 3 loss), and if Senegal or Israel beat Colombia and Japan respectively, the third place in the group will have at least 3 points.

Groups D and E will also finish the third game before Group F, which includes Korea, so if the third-placed team scores less than 1 points in the remaining groups C to E, Korea will qualify for the round of 1.

Even if the third-place finishers in Groups C and E all have 1 or more points, South Korea's progress to the round of 4 is very likely, given that New Zealand, who finished third in Group A, have a goal difference of -4.

If South Korea loses to Gambia by 28 goals, their goal difference will be the same as New Zealand's, but Korea is already ahead of New Zealand on multiple goals.

(Photo = Courtesy of Korea Football Association, Yonhap News)