SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's hopes of springing a surprise at the women's World Cup have suffered a serious blow with the news that forward Yeo Min-ji will miss the tournament due to a knee injury.
Yeo, who was named MVP at the 2010 Under-17s World Cup, had been expected to partner English football's player of the year Ji So-yun in attack at the tournament to be staged in Canada from June 6 to July 5.
However, the Korea Football Association said Yeo would be out of action for up to eight weeks after tearing a ligament in her knee during a practice match on Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported.
Park Hee-young has been called in to replace Yeo.
South Korea, who suffered three straight defeats at their only previous World Cup appearance in 2003, face Brazil in their Group E opener on June 9 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
They take on Costa Rica four days later, again in Montreal, before closing out the group against Spain on June 17 in Ottawa.