South Korea's U-20 team advances to quarterfinals

(ATTN: CHANGES dateline to Cairo; UPDATES with details throughout)
CAIRO, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's under-20 football team advanced to the
FIFA World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 18 years after shutting out
Paraguay 3-0 Monday.
Kim Bo-kyung netted the first goal in the 55th minute of the match, held in
Cairo. When Paraguayan goalie Joel Silva rebounded Kim Min-woo's strike, Kim
Bo-kyung tapped in the ball to the unguarded net.
Five minutes later, Kim Min-woo's left-foot drive extended the lead to 2-0 and
Paraguay's Rodrigo Burgos was shown a red card after receiving two yellows.
The ambitious South Korean young players controlled the match and sealed their
victory when Kim Min-woo headed into the net accepting a cross from Park
Hee-seong in the 70th minute.
"My players were absolutely fantastic tonight and they're improving with every
game," South Korean coach Hong Myung-bo said after the match. "It's difficult to
predict how far we'll go in this competition, but of course I hope we make it to
the final. For now, we need to focus on our next opponents."
Although South Korea was defeated 2-0 by Cameroon in the opener of the U-20 World
Cup, they tied with Germany, the leader of the Group C, and routed the United
States 3-0 to clinch the runner-up place for the knockout stage.
This marks South Korea's first victory against Paraguay, who have beaten South
Korea in their two encounters in previous U-20 World Cup tournaments.
The last time South Korea's U-20 headed to the quarterfinals was in 1991, when it
competed as part of a unified team with North Korea.
South Korea will vie for a spot in the semifinals Friday against the winner of
the Ghana-South Africa match.
brk@yna.co.kr
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