Japan, North Korea make it an all Asian final at the U-17 Women’s World Cup

AMMAN — Japan will take on North Korea in the final of the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup at the Amman International Stadium at 8pm on Friday.

The final will be preceded by the 3rd and 4th place match between Venezuela and Spain at the same venue.

Japan beat Spain 3-0 in their semifinal match, while North Korea trounced Venezuela 3-0 to earn their place in the final.

“The players were tense, though, and I have to focus on what we can do better in the final. At the moment, we don’t have any injured players but we will need to focus on making sure we recover well physically in the time we have,” North Korea’s coach Sin Jong-Bok told Fifa.com. 

North Korea’s Ri Hae-Yon got her fifth goal of the tournament. That put her level with Venezuela’s Deyna Castellanos and Spain’s Lorena Navarro at the top of the tournament’s scoring charts and she will now have a chance to add to that tally in a final.

The final and the 3rd and 4th place match will be played on Friday.

Jordan was eliminated from the first round losing 5-0 to New Zealand, 4-1 to Mexico and 6-0 to Spain. Sarah Abu Sabbah made history by scoring Jordan’s only goal in the Kingdom’s inaugural appearance in the U-17 World Cup.

The biggest sporting event to be hosted in the Kingdom also marked the first time that a women’s tournament of this scale has been hosted in the Middle East region. It was Jordan’s first appearance at the U-17 Women’s World Cup and also its first appearance at any level at a FIFA World Cup.