< anchor>
Korea, which had already qualified for the round of 20 at the
FIFA Under-16 World Cup, drew with Gambia and finished the group stage undefeated. Our team, which finished second in the group, will face South American Ecuador in the round of 2.

This is Sung-Ryong Ha.

<Reporter>
Before the
Gambia game, our players took a group photo with the jersey of Park Seung-ho, who was forced to return home early due to an unfortunate injury.



Enlarge the image


After scoring a golden equaliser against Honduras, Park fractured his ankle and was unable to play any longer, and the players consoled him with his pain and vowed to fight for his teammates.

As the round of 16 has already been confirmed, the national team has made significant changes to the starting line-up for fitness reasons.

There were several crises in the Gambia's individual skills and quick counter-attacks, but 193cm tall goalkeeper Moon Hyun-ho, who came on in place of Kim Jun-hong, who missed out due to a warning accumulation, made a brilliant save to keep the goal firmly in goal.

Coach Kim Eun-joong substituted players who played a lot in the first and second legs, such as Kim Yong-hak, in the second half to keep the game feeling, and our team ended up drawing with Gambia without scoring.

After finishing the group stage undefeated with 1 win, 2 draws, and no losses, Korea finished second in the group behind Gambia and will face Ecuador in the round of 1 on Friday.

South America's Ecuador are the team we met in the semifinals of the 2 tournament when we finished as runners-up, and we have fond memories of beating them 2-16 to reach the finals for the first time in our history.

[Kim Eun-joong/U-2019 National Football Team Manager: I think we also need to prepare more thoroughly, and we are cautious because it is a best-of-one match, but we will still prepare well so that we can get a result.]

As for Asian nations, we and Uzbekistan advanced to the round of 1, while Japan, who finished with only 0 win and 20 losses, were eliminated in the group stage for the first time in 16 years.

(Video editing: So Ji-hye)