# FIFA U-17 : Spain Beats North Korea

URL: https://technosports.co.in/fifa-u-17-spain-beats-north-korea/  
Published: 2017-10-14  
Updated: 2018-07-06  
Author: Rittik Shau

## Spain breeze past Korea, enter knockout

KOCHI: Two instances of play at opposite ends close to half-time gave away  
 the gulf in quality between the teams involved. First North Korea’s talisman  
 Kim Pom Hyok found himself in a nice position outside the Spanish penalty  
 area with just one defender near him. He took the right decision and tried to  
 curl the ball around in search of the top-right corner. However, his strike was  
 so weak and awful that the ball was rolling by the time it reached the corner  
 flag. A few minutes later, Spain’s Ferran Torres caught the Koreans off-guard  
 with a curling shot from the right and hit the post, with the crowd gasping in  
 appreciation of the skill involved.  
 In the end, it was all about skill and North Korea were not a match for Spain in  
 any area of play in a largely one-sided affair which the La Rojita won by 2-0 in  
 Group D at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday night.  
 Mohammed Moukhliss  and Cesar Gelabert  scored for the winners  
 who finished second behind Brazil in Group D and advanced to the pre-quarterfinals. They will play the winners of Group E in Guwahati on October  
 17. North Korea will be heading back home having lost all their matches.

![Spain vs North Korea](https://images.technosports.co.in/2017/10/172381-spain-vs-north-korea.jpg)

 

Spain controlled the ball and had whopping 72% possession to show for in the  
 first half and peppered the Koreans with shots in the first half. The goal came  
 as early as in the sixth minute through a link-up play between Cesar  
 Gelabert and Mohammed Moukhliss who got onto the end of a delightful chip  
 by the former to put Spain ahead. Gelabert was a constant fixture in Spain's  
 attacks throughout the half as he fired in at least five shots, all missing by  
 small margins. Gelabert, however, got his due in the second half, latching  
 onto a low cross from the right wing by substitute Jose Lara to make it 2- 0.  
 This was the second goal of the campaign for the highly impressive Real  
 Madrid product.

Paek Kwang Min of North Korea was sent off in the 84th minute to add to their  
 misery.