Casey Eugene Fair (16-Player’s Development Academy), the youngest member of the South Korean women’s national soccer team, became the youngest player ever to play at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
She is the new hope for the women’s national team as they search for a successor to Ji So-yeon.
The women’s national soccer team, coached by Colleen Bell, defeated Thailand 10-1 in the first match of Group B of the Paris Olympics Asian Second Qualifying Round at Yigret Stadium in Xiamen, China, on Sept. 26.
Casey Eugene Fair (16), who is considered the future of Korean women’s soccer, started in the No. 13 shirt and dominated the opposition from the start with her superior physicality. She followed up her A-Match debut with a hat trick in the victory.
Her debut goal came in the 33rd minute, when she received a pass from Ji So-yeon, turned her back on the defense, collected the ball, and slotted a left-footed finish.
She didn’t stop there. In the 11th minute of the second half, she used pressure to steal the ball from the opposing goalkeeper and slide it into the net, and in the 21st minute, she got behind the defense and completed her hat trick with her right foot.
With their three goals, the pair became the youngest hat trick scorers in Korean soccer A-match history for both men and women, and their debut goal at 16 years, 119 days old is also the second-youngest goal scored in a women’s A-match. The top spot goes to Ji So-yeon, who scored against Chinese Taipei in 2006 (15 years, 282 days).
It’s not the only record she holds. On July 25 of this year, when she took the field against Colombia at the Women’s World Cup, at the age of 16 years and 26 days, she broke the record for the youngest player to ever play in a Women’s World Cup. She also became the second-youngest player to ever play in a South Korean women’s soccer A match.토스카지노
Fair is a dual citizen of South Korea and the United States, born to a Korean mother and an American father. She began wearing the Korean flag with the U-15 national team in October last year. She was a surprise selection for the last World Cup, becoming the first mixed-race player in South Korean women’s soccer history to play in a World Cup. In men’s soccer, Jang Dae-il played at the 1998 World Cup in France.
After failing to make it out of the group stage at the Women’s World Cup in August, South Korea’s women’s soccer team is in need of a generational change. The current squad of Ji So-yeon, Lee Kum-min, and Jang Seul-ki are considered the golden generation of women’s soccer, but they were knocked out in the group stage at the 2019 World Cup in France and again at this World Cup. They also failed to win a medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Fair’s performance was a welcome boost for the national team. Another promising youngster, 2002-born Chun Garam (KSPO), who scored a hat trick alongside Paire in the match, is also worthy of note, as are 2000-born Choo Hyo-joo (Suwon FC) and 2004-born Bae Ye-bin (Widok University).