2018 FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup: Spain crush South Korea 4-0 

Antonia Is Piñera‘s side was up and running against the South Koreans, battering them by a massive 4-0 margin in their opening encounter at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, Uruguay.

With two of the tournament's most experienced players in their talented squad, captain Eva Navarro with 15 goals from 31 games and forward Claudia Pina with 27 goals from 22 games, the La Rojita‘s encountered no trouble in getting past an error-prone South Korean team.

Group D: Spain 4 - 0 South Korea (Eva Navarro 17', Clàudia Pina 51', 65', Paola Hernández 59')

It was the Taegeuk Girls who started briskly with Gwak Ro-Yeong rattling the cross-bar from the penalty box after cutting inside from the right flank.

However, Spain went ahead with their first strike of the match in the 17th minute. Salma Paralluelo, with a deft pass to the far post, set up Eva Navarro who unleashed a screamer down the near post for her 16th goal for the Spain under-17's.

In the second half, a defensive lapse following a miscommunication between Ko Min-Jung and the Korean shot-stopper Kang Ji-Yeon led to a simple finish for Cláudia Pina who plays for the FC Barcelona B team.

It quickly became 3-0 when Jana Fernández's inviting cross was met with a poor headed clearance from Lee Eun-Young, setting up a powerful strike from Paola Hernandez from the top of the penalty box.

Clàudia Pina made it 4-0 for La Rojita when she blasted the ball from the edge of the penalty area to the high right corner of the Korean goal after a pin-point cross from the right byline from Eva Navarro.

The crossbar denied Clàudia Pina’s hat-trick, who came up with a right-footed strike in the dying moments of the game. Spain managed six shots on target from 18 attempts while Korea struck four on the mark from their eight attempts.

The Korean defence stopped five shots from the opposition while the woodwork denied Spain twice and the Koreans once from scoring. Spain dominated 66% of the ball possession while drawing 20 fouls from the Koreans.

Catalina Coll ended the game with a double save to ensure a clean sheet for Spain as Korean head coach Hur Jung-Jae has plenty to work on before the Taegeuk Girls take on Canada in their next encounter. Claudia Pina with her brace won the Player of the match.