Women s World Cup, the defending champion keeps a clean sheet in the Triple Crown, the Netherlands takes revenge on Mexico

The competition for the 2025 U17 Women’s Football World Cup has entered the final stage in Morocco, Africa. The U17 Women's Football World Cup was originally held every two years, but will become an annual event starting in 2025. The scale of the event has been expanded to 24 teams for the first time, and the knockout stage has been expanded from the top 8 to the top 16. The pace of the game is tighter, and the frequency of upsets in the field is higher.

In this World Cup, a total of 4 teams from Asia participated, including the Chinese women's football team, the Japanese women's football team, the North Korean women's football team, and the South Korean women's football team. In the group stage, only South Korea was eliminated early. Later, the Chinese women's football team stopped in the top 16 and Japan stopped in the quarterfinals. Only North Korea advanced to the semi-finals, becoming the only Asian team.

In the quarter-finals, North Korea defeated Japan 5-1, the Netherlands and France won 7-6 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw, Mexico and Italy won 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw, and Brazil and Canada advanced 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw. The top four are North Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, and Mexico.

In the semi-finals, North Korea faced Brazil.

As the defending champion, the North Korean U17 women's football team has won the championship three times in history, in 2008, 2016 and 2024. It is the only team to win the cup three times in this event. In last year's Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers, they defeated South Korea 7-0, the Philippines 6-0, Indonesia 9-0, beat China 1-0 in the semi-finals, and defeated Japan 1-0 in the final, advancing with a perfect record.

In the group stage of this competition, North Korea defeated Mexico 2-0, Cameroon 2-1, and the Netherlands 5-0. It defeated the host Morocco 6-1 in the quarter-finals, and swept Japan 5-1 in the quarter-finals. The offensive firepower was amazing, scoring 20 goals in five games and conceding only 3 goals.

The Brazilian women's football team started low and went high. In the group stage, they defeated Morocco 3-0, drew 1-1 with Costa Rica, and lost 3-4 to Italy. They advanced to the knockout rounds as second in the group. They defeated the Chinese women's football team 3-0 in the round of 16, drew 0-0 with Canada in the quarter-finals, and narrowly won 5-4 on penalty kicks, making it to the semi-finals with difficulty.

After the game started, the North Korean team relied on their skilled passing and control to take the initiative, while the Brazilian team relied on their personal skills to find counterattack opportunities. Before the end of the first half, North Korean forward Ryu Jung-hyang dribbled the ball into the penalty area, passed the goalkeeper and shot into the empty goal. Brazilian defender Andreina blocked the ball with her arm on the goal line. After the VAR referee intervened, the referee decisively awarded a penalty kick and sent Andreina off with a red card. Liu Zhenxiang personally took the penalty kick and the North Korean team ended the first half with a 1-0 lead. This goal is Ryu Jung-hyang's eighth goal of the tournament, continuing to lead the scorer list.

At the beginning of the second half, the North Korean team, with one extra player, completely controlled the rhythm of the game. The Brazilian team was short of one player and the defense was exhausted. In the 65th minute, the North Korean team seized the opportunity of a quick counterattack, made a pass from the right and then outflanked the score in the middle, expanding the score to 2-0. After that, the North Korean team tightened its defense line, and although the Brazilian team counterattacked with all its strength, it failed to change the score.

In the end, the North Korean team defeated Brazil 2-0 and entered the final for the second consecutive year. This was also the fifth time in the team's history that it advanced to the final. The North Korean team had a ball possession rate of 62% throughout the game. They took 15 shots, 7 of which were on target, giving them a complete advantage. The Brazilian team only had 3 shots in the game, none of which were on target, and the offensive end was completely suppressed.

The other semi-final is between the Netherlands and Mexico. The two teams had met before in the group stage, when Mexico beat the Netherlands 1-0. The Mexican team ranked second in the group stage and advanced to the knockout rounds. They defeated Paraguay 1-0 in the round of 16, drew 0-0 with Italy in the quarter-finals, and narrowly won 5-4 on penalty kicks to advance.

The Dutch team performed even more miraculously, ranking third in the group stage and narrowly qualifying. They eliminated the United States on penalty kicks in the round of 16, defeated France on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, and advanced to the semifinals through penalty shootouts in two consecutive rounds.

After the game started, the Dutch team focused on defensive counterattacks, while the Mexican team focused on wing breakthroughs. Both teams created some opportunities in the first half, but failed to convert them into goals, and the half ended 0-0.

In the second half, the Dutch team gradually stepped up its offensive and frequently put pressure on the holes in the Mexican team's defense. In the 78th minute, the Dutch team used an exquisite coordination in the penalty area, and the midfielder completed the fatal blow, leading 1-0. After conceding the goal, the Mexican team fought back with all its strength, but the Dutch team tightened its defense and held on to the victory. In the end, the Dutch team succeeded in revenge 1-0, reaching the final for the first time and making history.