Casey Phair Yonhap Information/MEGA
The youngest participant on this 12 months’s FIFA Ladies’s World Cup was born in america, however she’s not enjoying with Megan Rapinoe and the remainder of the USWNT — she’s enjoying for South Korea.
Casey Phair, 16, turned the youngest particular person ever to play in a Ladies’s World Cup when she subbed in throughout South Korea’s Tuesday, July 25, sport towards Colombia within the 78th minute. At 16 years and 26 days outdated, Phair broke the file beforehand held by the late Ifeanyi Chiejine, who was 16 years and 34 days when she performed for Nigeria in 1999.
When South Korea introduced its roster earlier this month, coach Colin Bell stated he was not “experimenting” by choosing Phair for the group. “Casey goes not as a passenger however as a useful member of the squad and has each likelihood of moving into the group,” Bell, 61, informed Reuters forward of the match. “I additionally need to have that competitors.”
South Korea finally misplaced their opener, however Phair wasn’t discouraged. “Though at present we didn’t get the outcome we hoped for, we are going to work laborious to bounce again subsequent sport,” she wrote through Instagram after the match. “I’m honored to make each my senior group and World Cup debut, and needed to thank everybody that has supported me up to now — that is just the start.”
Preserve scrolling for 5 issues to learn about Phair:
1. The place Was Casey Phair Born?
Phair was born in South Korea to an American father and a South Korean mom. Her household moved to america when she was nonetheless an toddler. They now dwell in Warren Township, New Jersey.
Lorena Bedoya Durango (L) of Colombia fights for the ball with Casey Phair (R) of South Korea throughout the FIFA Ladies’s World Cup match between Colombia and South Korea DAN HIMBRECHTS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
2. What Place Does Casey Phair Play?
Phair is a striker for the South Korea nationwide ladies’s group. Along with being the youngest particular person ever to play in a Ladies’s World Cup, she can also be the primary multiracial participant named to the South Korea ladies’s group.
3. When Did Casey Phair Begin Taking part in Soccer?
Phair began enjoying soccer in leisure leagues when she was round 5 years outdated. By the point she was 7, she’d began enjoying in membership leagues in Exeter, New Hampshire, the place her household lived on the time. In accordance with The Athletic, Phair frequently competed towards older youngsters — each girls and boys — throughout that interval. After her household moved to New Jersey in 2020, Phair started enjoying for the elite Gamers Growth Academy membership.
4. Why Does Casey Phair Play for South Korea?
Earlier than the World Cup, Phair educated with each the U.S. and South Korean camps, however she finally determined to proceed on her path with the South Korean group. “Whether or not it’s with the under-17 group or the senior group, I at all times really feel that every time I’m with the Korean nationwide group I’m put in the perfect place to enhance and thrive,” she informed The Athletic in July, including that she feels “at residence” together with her teammates on the South Korean squad.
5. The place Does Casey Phair Go to College?
Phair attends the Pingry College, a personal Ok-12 establishment in New Jersey. She has been enjoying for the college’s soccer group since her freshman 12 months when she scored 25 targets in 15 video games.
