SIDNEY (AUSTRALIA), 25 Jul. (dpa/EP) –
South Korean player Casey Phair has become the youngest footballer to debut in a FIFA Women’s World Cup, coming on as a substitute for her team’s match against Colombia on Tuesday in the group stage of the World Cup that takes place in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.
Phair entered the field in the 78th minute of the Group H duel in which South Korea lost 2-0 and at 16 years and 26 days, she beats the record set by Nigerian Ifeanyi Chiejine in the 1999 edition by eight days.
The youngster, born in the United States to an American father and a South Korean mother, also became the first person of mixed ancestry, male or female, to play for South Korea at a World Cup. “I felt very proud and honored to be able to play in the Korean uniform,” she told the South Korean agency ‘Yonhap’ after the game.
For Phair, it has been a “great opportunity”, and although she was “under pressure” to go out on the field, she felt “very grateful” to have been able to enjoy it. “She was very nervous at first, but I think I took it in,” she concluded.