10 months ago, France and South Korea met at the quarter-final stages. The venue was the U-20 Women's World Cup, which, interestingly was played in Canada at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. After a tense 0-0 draw was unable to be solved in 90 minutes, the match then went to extra-time, then penalties and it was the Europeans who were eventually able to get the better of their Asian opponents after a tough 4-3 shoot-out.
This time around, it will be the senior ladies' squads meeting in the round of 16. And in an odd case of déjà vu, the location is again Montreal's Olympic Stadium, a place that will be painfully familiar to defender Kim Hye-yeong, midfielder Lee So-dam, and striker Lee Geum-min. All three were part of the South Korean junior team that fell to France on August 18th, 2014 and have now been given an opportunity to feature for the Taegeuk Ladies in their country's second World Cup appearance.
As they prepare to feature in their first-ever knock-out round, Yoon Deok-yeo's squad were literally 45 minutes away from heading home early. A defeat by tournament favourites Brazil in their first game was followed by a nervy 2-2 draw with debutants Costa Rica. And in their final match, the Koreans went down by a goal to Spain, only to stage a comeback through two second half goals to set up Sunday's round of 16 match against dark horses - and Group F winners - France.
Meanwhile, Les Bleues, skippered by the young Wendie Renard, started their group stages off well by powering past fellow European side England 1-0, but suffered a scare when they were defeated by Colombia in their second game. However, the team, who are ranked third behind Germany and the USA really showed their attacking power as they thrashed Mexico 5-0 to edge out the Three Lionesses for top spot in Group F.
Star forward Eugenie Le Sommer, who already has three goals to her name at this tournament, will be one South Korea will have to be really wary of. During the group stages, goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi was kept extremely busy and despite making four saves she has already conceded five goals. This is a figure that is likely to rise unless if her defense can provide better cover at the back, especially against a team that is not afraid to fire away on goal and scored a whopping 54 goals during their World Cup qualifying rounds. Only Germany, who netted 62 scored more in Europe.
At the start of this summer's tournament, France were widely viewed as dark horses to win it all and showed their class by cruising to a win over Mexico. However, Korea, whose World Cup campaign appeared to be all over showed that they should not be discounted by their courageous fight-back against Spain. Will a re-match of sorts between Korea and France end in tears or celebration for three of the Taegeuk Ladies? Or will France set up a exciting match with fellow European sides Germany or Sweden?
And will this match, like the one involving the junior sides last August take longer than 90 minutes to settle? Make sure you don't miss out and check out special France vs. South Korea match page here at LiveSoccerTV.com for all viewing information for your specific country.
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