Anyone who is in the round of 16 of a tournament also wants to move on to the next knockout phase – and continue to secretly reach for the stars. In this context, Austria’s U20 women’s national team had the difficult hurdle of “North Korea” in mind in order to ideally kick the title co-favorites out of the competition.
The result was a bitter 2:5 defeat, in which the team of team manager Markus Hackl felt as though they were constantly carrying a sporting burden. First of all, the North Koreans quickly took the lead 1:0 in the third minute, but this was equalized just eight minutes later. Valentina Mädl was the one who converted a free kick cross from Nicole Ojekwu in the five-meter box. The Mönchhofer was thus once again able to make her mark as a striker.
And then there was the yellow-red card against Ojukwu (unsporting conduct, 28th minute) in the first half, including North Korea taking the lead again through Hyang Sin in the 37th minute. After the restart and the score at 3:1, Austria was able to shorten the gap again – North Korea defender Hong Ryon headed a long free kick into her own goal – but the open exchange of blows at that point did not have a red-white-red happy ending. Two goals (74th, 92nd) from coach Song Ho Ri’s team ensured North Korea’s place in the quarter-finals, which 1,788 fans watched in the Estadio Atanasio Girardot in Medellín.
On Friday we will be heading back to Austria, then the U20 World Cup adventure will be over – but not without taking stock.
The voices
Goal scorer Valentina Mädl immediately after the final whistle: “At the moment the disappointment is still too great, but we can still be proud of what we have achieved and how we represented Austria. I think the result does not fully reflect the fighting spirit. The last goals were scored because of the high risk we had to take. I think we were still able to inspire a lot of people at this tournament.”
Team manager Markus Hackl: “Basically, I have to say that it is extremely disappointing that we were unable to score anything today. At the same time, I am incredibly proud of the players because they gave it their all until the last minute, all while being outnumbered for around an hour. Keeping the game close for so long makes me very proud. After the 2:3 goal, we had a plan on the bench about how we wanted to continue, but at that very moment the fourth goal was scored. The disappointment prevails today, but I think that in a few days the players will realise that what they have achieved was also something historic. I would like to thank all the players and coaches who gave their all over three weeks. We have to take the positives with us. There are some players in this team who can also make the jump to the senior national team.”
Laura Spinn: “I don’t think we can blame ourselves for much today, because we gave it our all for 90 minutes, but unfortunately the game went very badly. It’s still difficult to realise everything at the moment. What sets us apart is that we always give one hundred percent and always try to come back. We took a lot of risks in the end. I think we can be proud because we still made history. It was an unforgettable tournament for all of us.”
Tatjana Weiss: “We fought, gave it our all and I think with a little distance we can look back with pride at what we have achieved. After the goal we had to find a balance between risk and security in defence, which is extremely difficult when we are outnumbered. We must also not forget that we played against a very good opponent. I am extremely proud of the team, the coaches and everything we have achieved so far.”
Captain Chiara D’Angelo: “I am extremely proud that we have made it to a World Cup for the first time. We won the first and second games and made it to the round of 16 early, which is all positive. Today, with one player less, we held up really well against a very good opponent. I am sure that we could have won the game if we had played eleven against eleven until the end. I think North Korea was not the superior opponent that many people thought they were, so I am disappointed that we lost today. We ran for our lives today and would have deserved to be in the quarter-finals.”
