Casey Phair, the US-based rising star poised to make World Cup history for South Korea
Casey Phair’s ascent to South Korea’s Women’s World Cup team in Australia and New Zealand can be traced to a chance encounter on a pitch in the U.S. state of Virginia in 2018.
It was there, at the coveted Jefferson Cup in Richmond, where a talented visiting youth club from New Jersey caught Phair’s attention. She was impressed with the team’s dazzling style of play, and how well they moved the ball. It didn’t faze her that her own Tennessee-based side lost that match by three goals.
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Even in a heavy defeat, Phair still managed to do what she’s known for: she dribbled through a sea of players and drilled the ball into the back of the net. Twice. Her performance was so impressive it stuck with Larry Hart, the opposition head coach in charge of the Players Development Academy’s (PDA) team of 12-year-old girls.
“She was a one-man wrecking crew,” Hart recalls, with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Who is this kid from Tennessee?’.”
It was an easy decision years later for Hart to welcome Phair to his team, where she recently tallied 20 goals in 10 games.
“This kid from Tennessee” is now New Jersey’s Casey Yu-jin Phair, who will enter the international consciousness of professional women’s soccer this week as a 16-year-old phenom who is the first mixed-heritage player to be called up to a South Korean World Cup team. If she features in either of Korea’s first two group matches, she will become the youngest player to debut in a FIFA World Cup. That record currently belongs to Ifeanyi Chiejine, who was 16 years and 34 days when she played for Nigeria against North Korea in 1999.
Phair’s rise into the international limelight has been swift. Shane, her father, always envisioned a future in soccer for his daughter. He imagined she’d be
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