South Korea have advanced to the knockout phase at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.

South Korea will play in the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive U-20 tournament, after punching their ticket as one of the four best third-place teams from the group stage, while the top two teams from six groups earned automatic spots.

Coached by Lee Chang-won, South Korea lost to Ukraine 2-1 to open Group B play last Saturday, and then had a goalless draw against Paraguay three days later. On Friday, South Korea defeated Panama 2-1 to finish the group stage with four points. Ukraine won the group with seven points and Paraguay, who also had four points, beat out South Korea on tiebreakers.

South Korea had to wait for other results to see if they would snatch one of four knockout spots awarded to third-place teams. And Spain’s 1-0 win over Brazil in Group C on Saturday pushed South Korea to the top of the rankings among No. 3 seeds on goal difference, and it ensured that the young Taegeuk Warriors would finish no lower than fourth among No. 3 seeds regardless of results in remaining group matches.

At their recent U-20 World Cup appearances, South Korea reached the round of 16 in 2017, finished as the runners-up in 2019 and made it to the semifinals in 2023.

In the round of 16 this time, South Korea will meet either Morocco, who won Group C, or the Group D winner, which could end up being Argentina or Italy.

If they play Morocco, the match will be at 8 p.m. Thursday (local time), or 8 a.m. Friday (South Korean time). If they end up against Argentina or Italy, that match will be played 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Chile, or 4:30 a.m. Thursday in South Korea.

According to the Korea Football Association (KFA), Lee and his backroom staff scouted Morocco as they lost to Mexico 1-0 in their final Group C match.

“I am glad we made it out of the group stage,” Lee said in a statement relayed by the KFA. “We will run into even stronger teams in the knockout stage, but once you get to that phase, anything can happen. We’re going to prepare the best we can and tackle this challenge.”