South Korea’s Kim Eun-Joong-ho is on course to reach the round of 16 at the U-20 World Cup.

The South Korea U-20 football team, coached by Kim Eun-jung, drew 2-2 with Honduras in their Group F match at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Mendoza, Argentina, on 26 June.

Contrary to expectations, Korea struggled against Honduras.

Korea fell behind to a penalty corner goal from David Ochoa in the 22nd minute and another from Isaac Castillo six minutes into the second half. Luckily, Korea’s chances came when Ochoa was sent off in the 27th minute. With the numerical advantage, Korea pushed forward and secured a dramatic draw with consecutive goals from Kim Yong-hak (Jeonbuk) in the 13th minute and Park Seung-ho (Incheon) in the 17th minute.

The draw leaves Korea in second place in the group (4-1 W, 3 D) behind Gambia (6-2 W).

Korea’s progression to the round of 16 will be determined by the result of their third group game against The Gambia on 29 June at 6am.

South Korea will need at least a draw against the Gambia to qualify for the round of 16 on their own. A win would see them finish top of the group, while a draw would see them finish second in the group and board the train to the round of 16토토사이트.

The ‘best case scenario’ is that Korea loses to the Gambia.

In that case, we would have 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss, and 4 points, and our placement would be determined by the outcome of the Honduras-France match. The best case scenario here is that Honduras and France tie, or France defeats Honduras. In this case, even if South Korea loses to the Gambia, they will still advance to the round of 16 as the second best team in the group.

If Honduras defeats France, it gets complicated. If Honduras and Korea are tied with one win, one draw, and one loss, then goal difference and aggregate goals scored will be considered. If Korea loses to Honduras on goal difference or aggregate goals scored, they will finish third in the group, which means they will have to finish in the top four of the six teams to qualify for the round of 16.

So far, South Korea’s chances of reaching the round of 16 are quite high.

In the last five editions of the tournament between 2011 and 2019, the only team to fail to reach the last 16 after winning four points was Portugal in 2019.

It’s also a good thing that the Gambia will likely not be at full strength when they face South Korea, having beaten France 2-1 to book their place in the round of 16.

However, two of their main players, defender Choi Seok-hyun (Dankook University) and goalkeeper Kim Jun-hong (Gimcheon), will not be able to play against the Gambia due to accumulated cautions.

Speaking after the game, Kim said, “We had the numerical advantage, but it was difficult to score because they were all down (in defence). We had some good chances, but we weren’t calm enough,” Kim said. “We need to give more than 100 per cent against Gambia. We will have two days to recover and prepare at our best.”