WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Morocco stun South Korea to claim first ever Women’s World Cup victory
Debutantes Morocco claimed their first ever victory at the Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over South Korea in their second Group H encounter on Sunday, all but confirming the Asian side’s exit.
Morocco are 55 rungs below South Korea in the women’s rankings, but the African side made an early breakthrough with their first ever World Cup goal from striker Ibtissam Jraidi.
In the sixth minute, Hanane Ait El Haj whipped in a cross from the right and Jraidi dived forward to make contact with a deft glancing header that went in at the far post.
“We are just so pleased our efforts have paid off. This victory is for Morocco and Arabs, it’s the fruit of our hard work,” Jraidi told reporters.
Park Eun-sun nearly levelled with a diving header of her own at the other end but the forward saw her effort go agonisingly wide of the post, much to the relief of Khadija Er-Rmichi in Morocco’s goal.
Er-Rmichi saw Germany find the net six times in their group opener, but she was hardly tested by the South Koreans, who failed to have a shot on target and struggled to make inroads into the final third as the Moroccan defence stood firm.
“There’s a sense of pride for us to pull this first World Cup win out of the bag,” coach Reynald Pedros said, dedicating the victory to the king of Morocco.
“We didn’t change our philosophy” after losing 6-0 to Germany, Pedros said. “The Korean team is not like the German team and we got off to a blinding start… We were efficient in the box, that was missing against Germany.”
Morocco defender Nouhaila Benzina, who became the first player to wear a headscarf at the Women’s World Cup, made crucial interventions, while she almost scored from a set-piece when she volleyed a snapshot over the bar.
She even took one for the team when she deliberately clipped Ji So-yun, who was racing through on goal on a counterattack with support, accepting a yellow card without protest.
But South Korea could not capitalise from the free kick, which hit the wall as coach Collin Bell stood on the touchline shaking his head in frustration.
South Korea’s Casey Phair nearly equalised late in the game, but the 16-year-old, who became the youngest player to take the field in Women’s World Cup history in their opener, fired wide to leave them bottom of the group.
“I can’t believe it, to be honest. We saved the worst two performances in my tenure for the World Cup. I didn’t recognise my own team,” said Bell, who took over in 2019 and guided the team to the final of the Asian Cup last year.
“The reality is we were not good enough in both games. Why that was, we have to analyse in detail. I’m not going to let my emotions take over now, and obviously we’re all very disappointed.
“The players are much better than they’ve shown in both matches and it really is almost unbelievable that we’ve performed like we have.”
Morocco are level with Germany and Colombia with three points ahead of their game later on Sunday. South Korea have zero points and will be eliminated if Germany avoid defeat.
-Reuters
Nigeria Super Falconets gave Nigerians additional joy after their 4-0 defeat of Venezuela in Cali, Colombia in their last group match. Their victory followed up with an earlier 3-0 win by the Super Eagles in their opening Group D match with Benin Republic in Uyo.
The Falconets’ win means they have qualified for the Round of 16 where they are most likely going to face Japan when the group games are completed on Sunday.
Both Nigeria and Germany tied on six points, but Germany have one goal better than Nigeria on goal difference.
The Super Falcons made early hays when Amina Bello put Nigeria ahead after 16 minutes. Chiamaka Okwuchukwu doubled the lead in the 28th minute before Flourish Sebastine put in the third five minutes into the added time of the first half. Joy Igbokwe put in the back breaker four minutes into the added time of the second hald.
Nigeria’s U-20 Women’s World Cup campaign suffered a setback as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against a clinical German side in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday night.
The result secures Germany’s place in the knockout stages, while leaving the Falconets with work to do in their final group match.
In an end-to-end encounter, both sides created numerous chances, but it was Germany who struck first. Cora Zicai’s pinpoint cross found Alara Sehitler, who nodded home in the 17th minute to give the Europeans the lead.
Nigeria’s star performer, Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, had earlier come close to opening the scoring with a magnificent solo run, only to be denied by German goalkeeper Rebecca Adamczyk.
Okwuchukwu’s persistence paid off early in the second half when she capitalized on a defensive mix-up to draw Nigeria level, celebrating with Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous ‘siuuu’ celebration.
However, Germany’s quality shone through as they regained the lead through Sofie Zdebel, again assisted by the impressive Zicai.
Despite Okwuchukwu having another goal ruled out for offside, Germany sealed the win in stoppage time with Sarah Ernst’s powerful header.
The defeat leaves Nigeria on three points from two matches, with their final group game against Venezuela in Cali now crucial to their hopes of progressing.
Germany beat Nigeria’s Falconets 3-1 in their second group game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. With Germany’s win, the Europeans have made it to the last 16 stage, even with a game to spare.
The coach of Germany, Kathrin Peter acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian team , saying: “It was a really tough match today.
“That was expected, but we actually had big problems in defence. They had a few chances where we had the necessary luck, we have to admit that.
“But in the second half we were really good and asserted our dominance and I think we deserved to win in the end.”
Here are some major points:
- Germany beat Nigeria 2-0 in the final match 14 years ago in Germany.
- Germany have now won their last four FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup meetings with Nigeria. Alex Popp inspired a 2-0 victory in the 2010 final, Lena Petermann settled the decider in extra-time four year later, and Stefanie Sanders was the solitary scorer in Group D in 2018.
- This was just Nigeria’s third loss in their past 24 group matches at the tournament.
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