Today marks the commencement of the third edition of the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany. I’ll be rolling out daily updates of the tournament throughout its duration (except maybe for next week which will be weird. Will explain later.).

All the games will be broadcast either by television or broadband but due to unavoidable commitments (to my paycheck) I’ll be missing most of the mid-week matches, thereby necessitating weekend marathons of wall-to-wall U-20 action.

Group A: Germany 4, Costa Rica 2

Host(esses) Germany opened the tournament versus Costa Rica in Bochum before a very impressive 23,995 attendees. Svenja Huth put the Germans ahead just 2 minutes after scoring off of a free kick. Two Frauen Bundesliga starlets Alexandra Popp (Duisburg) and Kim Kulig (Hamburg) made it 2-0 in the 16′. However Carolina Venegas cut the lead down to just one goal as she scored in added time. Popp bounced back with her second goal of the match in the 53′ before Marina Hegering put the game out of sight with a goal in the 57′. The Costa Ricans weren’t out just yet, however, as they pulled back a penalty after Bianca Schmidt was shown a red card in the 72′.

Germany will face Colombia on Friday while Costa Rica will play France.

Group A: Colombia 1, France 1

Colombia earned a hard-fought point against France later in the day. The French took the lead after Marina Makanza scored in the 16′. Lady Andrade equalized in the 86′ after finding the ball in the area. Check out her awesome reaction below:

Group A

	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Germany	1	1	0	0	4	2	3
	France	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
	Colombia	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
	Costa Rica	1	0	0	1	2	4	0

Group B action after the jump.

Group B: Brazil 0, North Korea 1

In what would obviously be an upset anywhere other than at the women’s U-20 level, North Korea edged past Brazil 1-0. Possession was evenly split at 50% throughout the match and there wasn’t a single card shown. Two missed opportunities by Alanna and Lara left the match scoreless at the half. The North Koreans shut up shot in the second half and allowed just one shot on goal. Choe Mi Gyong put Ho Un Byol put her team ahead in the 69′.

North Korea will meet New Zealand on Friday while Brazil will play Sweden.

Group B: Sweden 2, New Zealand 1

The Swedes roared back with two unanswered goals from Antonia Goransson in the second half to earn the victory. After several missed chances from Sweden, Hannah Wilkinson opened the goal scoring in the 33′. Then in the 56′ 19 year-old Goransson beat New Zealand goalkeeper Erin Nayler with a hard low shot. She followed that up with the game-winning goal in the 67′.

Group B

	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Sweden	1	1	0	0	2	1	3
	Korea DPR	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
	New Zealand	1	0	0	1	1	2	0
	Brazil	1	0	0	1	0	1	0

England will face Nigeria while Mexico will meet Japan in Group C tomorrow. The United States will face Ghana tomorrow. The match will be on ESPNU at 12 p.m. ET. Switzerland and South Korea will round out the group.

View Original Post at allwhitekit.wordpress.com

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• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

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• 2010 U-20 Women`s World Cup in Germany