The South Americans took the lead after Catalina Usme converted a penalty kick, and then teenager Linda Caicedo, 18, doubled the advantage after Korean goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul made a mistake.
That was sufficient to secure Colombia’s second victory at the competition.
Casey Phair made history for South Korea by being the tournament’s youngest-ever player.
The forward, who was only 16 years, 26 days old, was added in the 77th minute.
The Asian nation, which has now dropped all four of its first matches at the Women’s World Cup, will play Morocco on July 30 in a crucial Group H match before Colombia takes on Germany.
This could have been Colombia’s World Cup when they unsuccessfully competed to host the event in 2023, losing out to Australia and New Zealand by a razor-thin margin.While not at home, the majority of the 24,323 spectators at Sydney Football Stadium were a very noisy army of fans, and they were rewarded.
In an effort to put the Colombians at ease, South Korea made two defensive mistakes in the first half that gave the visitors a two-goal advantage.
Shim Seo-yeon used her arm to divert a shot that was heading toward the goal on minute 28 to end a wild sequence of play that featured numerous deflections and poorly hit shots.
Usme calmly scored the winning penalty kick, setting off wild jubilation among the yellow-shirted supporters.
In a terrible time for goalkeeper Yoon, Caicedo doubled Colombia’s lead to spell disaster for South Korea.
Real Madrid winger Caicedo was given too much room and time to run at the defense along the left, but when she cut inside, Yoon mistimed her jump and the ball went between her gloves and into the goal.
Nevertheless, Caicedo’s perseverance, talent, and foresight showed why, at the age of only 18, she is one of the most widely anticipated rising stars of the competition.
After Brazil’s Marta, who did it at the age of 17 in 2003, she became the second-youngest player to score at a Women’s World Cup with her goal.
Mayra Ramirez’s miss on a goal-bound attempt in the second half gave Colombia a chance to increase their advantage.
With the win, they increase their hopes of making it out of Group H and tie Germany for first place in the standings.
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