PARIS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- England and DPR Korea moved through Group B into the final eight of the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup on Sunday when hosts France took on a 4-0 victory to secure their Group A top place.
Despite trailing 0-1 against Mexico into the halftime following Jacqueline Ovalle's fourth goal of the campaign, England fully displayed their firepower after the restart with six unanswered goals.
Alessia Russo levelled the score four minutes into the second half, followed by Lauren Hemp's hat-trick and goals from Chloe Kelly and Georgia Stanway.
Title holders DPR Korea strongly bounced back from their opening match loss with two consecutive wins afterwards.
They scored a goal at the end of each half to beat Brazil 2-1 in final round action of group stage, securing their position in quarter-finals and reigniting hope of becoming the first side to defend the tournament's title. The South American side once drew level midway through the second half through Geyse Ferreira's score.
England sat atop Group B with two wins and one draw, followed by DPR Korea on six points.
Although one draw with Netherlands, who already advanced, could effectively seal France's position in last eight, the hosts still pressed forward hard throughout the match, seeing a three-goal advantage on Amelie Delabre's hat-trick in the first half. Emelyne Laurent also found the net for France in the 72nd minute.
With the crush, France moved past Netherlands to sit atop Group A, and are set to put on a revenge clash against DPR Korea, who won last edition's final between the duo 3-1 for their second title.
The Netherlands will take on Group B leaders England.
Ruth Anima's goal in the 75th minute handed Ghana a 1-0 narrow win against New Zealand.
Group C and D will have four more teams come out. As Germany have secured one berth, the other spot will be up for grabs between China and Nigeria in their Monday's Group D head-to-head. Nigeria rank second ahead of China with a superior goal difference.
