Goalscorer Martha Harris was delighted with England’s resilience after they fought back from 1-0 down to draw with South Korea in their FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup opener.
Mo Marley’s side fell behind to Sodam Lee’s penalty after quarter of an hour as referee Carol Anne Chenard deemed Aoife Mannion to have handled the ball inside the box.
But the Young Lions recovered and earned a point courtesy of Harris’s close range finish on 68 minutes.
England 1-1 South Korea
FIFA Women's U20 World Cup
Group C
Wednesday 6 August 2014
Moncton Stadium, Canada
Beth Mead and Nikita Parris had chances to win the game in the dying embers but Harris congratulated her team-mates for their resolute performance.
She said: “At half-time we all said we needed a minimum of one point from this game, so to come back and get that point is a great achievement.
“All the girls worked very hard. We all know there is a lot of character in this team and to come back after going 1-0 down so early on was fantastic for us.”
Liverpool right-back Harris, the PFA Young Women’s Player of the Year, equalised with her first England goal at any level and said her strike was made more poignant by having her mum and dad among the Moncton Stadium crowd.
She added: “That was my first international goal and it’s a great achievement for me on a personal level to score in a World Cup.
“Having my parents there made the moment even more special for me. I was really grateful that my mum and dad were there to see it.”
The right-back’s attention has now shifted to Saturday’s second group game against Mexico.
The North Americans also drew 1-1 in their opening match, against Nigeria, and Harris says England’s performance against the Asian champions has given her the confidence they can improve further and progress to the last eight of Canada 2014.
She explained: “Our minimum target is to get out of the group. We haven’t been together for that long this year and hopefully the longer we are together the better we will become.
“If we play how we did against South Korea we should be able to go further in this competition.
“Mexico will be another difficult opponent but the more we train together I’m sure we will get better with every game.”
