Ri Hae-yon scored the winner as DPR Korea claimed a second AFC U-16 Women’s Championship after a deserved 1-0 victory against defending champions Japan on Sunday.
After a closely fought first half at Xinhua Road Stadium, Japan forward Hana Takahashi struck the underside of the crossbar on 40 minutes before Ri gave the 2007 champions the lead a minute later with a wonderful curling effort as they took a huge step towards erasing the memory of three successive second-placed finishes.

Hwang Yong-song’s side took control of the second half from the off with defender Choe Un-chung curling a free-kick against the crossbar just after the restart before Ri also struck the woodwork in the dying minutes as perennial runners-up DPR Korea saw out the win with a dominant performance.

After seeing off China 2-1 in Thursday’s semi-final, DPR Korea started strongly and registered their first shot on target in the fourth minute, but Pyon Un-gyong’s effort from distance was comfortably gathered by goalkeeper Momoko Tanaka.

But Naoki Kusunose’s Japan then started to get a hold of the game soon after as their passing football came to the fore, with forward Seira Kojima firing over their first attempt on goal from 20 yards on 17 minutes.

Roared on by a passionate following, though, DPR Korea again threatened the Young Nadeshiko goal midway through the first half, but forward Sung Hyang-sim was unable to divert Pyon’s cross from the right goalwards from close in.

The defending champions were then inches away from breaking the deadlock just before the half hour mark when captain Fuka Nagano broke into space through the middle before delivering a fizzing drive from 25 yards that went narrowly over. ....

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