USA’s tie with Ghana was enough to send them into the quarter-finals, Ernestina Abambila forced Ghana in front on 20 minutes when goalkeeper Casey Murphy could only help her shot in via the woodwork. But 2 minutes later, Mallory Pugh surged into the box to equalise.
France defeated New Zealand 2-0, with Charlotte Leger’s 17th-minute goal added too early in the second half by Clara Mateo.
The two Group C victors were level on points and also inseperable in terms of their head-to-head record (having drawn 0-0), so the deciding criteria in the Americans favour was fair play, with France having had one caution while they had an unblemished record.
Germany took maximum points in their group following a 2-0 defeat of South Korea, Dina Orschmann’s solo effort being a feature of the win, with Stefanie Sanders doubling the lead 25 minutes in.
Mexico finished second by beating Venezuela 3-2, with Kiana Palacios opening the scoring for the Mexicans, and in doing so notched the 800th goal in the history of the U-20 Women’s World Cup. Palacios bagged a brace in the opening 10 minutes and Teresa Gonzalez made it 3-0, before Venezuela fought back through goals by Gabriela Garcia and Lourdes Moreno.
The quarter-finals commence on Thursday at Papua New Guinea’s National Football Stadium, where North Korea and Spain are first up, followed by Japan and Brazil.
Friday then brings a double header at the Sir John Guise Stadium, where USA meet Mexico and then Germany clash with France.
All the match highlights can be found at www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/videos/index.html
