Jang Selgi scored the only goal of the game at Paju Stadium on Thursday, as Korea Republic women’s national team edged the U-20 national team 1-0 in the first leg of the Women’s National Football Team Special Match presented by Shinsege eMart. The second leg is to be played behind closed doors, at the same venue on Monday 26 October.

Jang was voted the Most Valuable Player of the match, with Kang Jiwoo grabbing the Best Young Player award for her outstanding performance amongst the U-20 players who are affiliated with college football teams. The winners of the aforementioned awards also claimed the rights to present their alma mater - elementary, middle and high schools as well as university - with 50 footballs each (a total of 200 footballs from each player).

For his first game in charge in eight months since February, women’s national team coach Colin Bell made a few changes to deal with the absence of foreign-based players such as Ji Soyun, Cho Sohyun and Lee Geummin. “The priority is to review what we’ve built so far, and then I could make some tactical changes and see how newly called-up players could fare with the existing ones,” said Bell at the press conference on the first day of the training sessions at Paju.

The most notable changes were made in midfield of a 4-3-3 formation of the senior Taegeuk Nangja, where fullback Jang was deployed as a central midfielder alongside Park Yeeun and Lee Mina. Recently promoted from the U-20 side, Choo Hyojoo started up front on the left flank.

For his part, the U-20 coach Huh Jungjae opted for a 4-4-2 with Kang and Cho Mijin leading the attack. The core members of the team that qualified for the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup through the successful campaign at the AFC Women’s U-19 Championship were present in the lineup, having built up a solid organisation over the three training sessions since July.

The women’s national team missed goalscoring chances twice in the first half. Lee Mina was left with only Kim Minyoung to beat on the right side of the penalty area, only to drag her shot straight at the goalkeeper. Jeoun Eunha then broke into the box and latched onto a through ball on the stroke of halftime, but Kim did well to stop Jeoun’s effort.

However, it was not a one-way traffic midway through the first half, as the U-20 side launched a counterattack on 19 minutes. Hyun Seulgi received a long ball before firing a clever volley into an empty net, but her audacious effort went just wide. The deadlock was finally broken in the first half added time, and it was down to a goalkeeping mistake. Kim spilled a Lee Mina cross from the right, and Jang was on hand to tap in the loose ball from close range.

The senior Taegeuk Nangja picked up where they had left off after the interval, mounting pressure up front with substitute Yeo Minji looking to double their advantage. But despite taking complete control and launching a series of waves, their three pronged attack failed to produce another goal due to the lack of finishing touch.