SEOUL, May 18 (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. (Reporting by Peter Rutherford; Editing by John O'Brien)