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Colombia, North Korea want to build for future

Jul 5, 2011 - 10:58 PM Bochum, Germany (Sports Network) - North Korea and Colombia are both full of promise, but the young teams struggled at the 2011 Women's World Cup and will try to end the tournament with a win to build toward 2015 in Canada.

North Korea and Colombia were both outclassed by Sweden and the United States in their first two games in Germany, but at least the teams meet Wednesday at Ruhrstadion on a more level playing field.

With a roster dominated by teenagers, it wasn't unexpected the Koreans would struggle. Colombia, in its first World cup, had to anticipate the same fate.

But Korea manager Kim Kwang Min remained positive after a 1-0 defeat to Sweden on Saturday, even though he knew it all but sealed his team's elimination. The team was eliminated later Saturday, when the U.S. beat Colombia, 3-0.

"This team is very young and they are inexperienced in such a competition as this. However, this World Cup will have taught them a lot of lessons. In four years time they will be stronger," he said.

With 10 teenagers on the roster, including a number of starters, North Korea's future looks good. And since the Asian nation has qualified for the last four tournaments, a return trip in four years is likely.

Thirty-year-old defender Jong Sun Song is the only Korean player over the age of 25, and the squad certainly showed enough poise and maturity to offer a few glimpses of future success.

Although it has failed to score in its first two matches, the opener was a 2-0 loss to the United States, Korea was dangerous at times against both countries and controlled parts of each match.

Colombia features six teenagers, including 17-year star Yoreli Rincon, who did not start against Sweden but remains on track to be a star in the women's game in the future.

The Colombians played better against Sweden, and created a few changes against the U.S. - the No. 1 team in the world - although it was overmatched. Colombia was eliminated with the loss to the Americans.

With no player on the team over the age of 27, Colombia also has the potential to return to World Cup in four years, and then, both teams might stick around longer than the group stage.

"We're a young team, with a long, successful future ahead of us," Colombia coach Ricardo Rozo said. "This generation of players needs to learn from this type of match in order to keep improving."