WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Morocco looking to exceed expectations again in ‘special’ France clash
Morocco’s clash with favourites France in the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday will be a special occasion for their players and coach Reynald Pedros as the tournament debutantes aim to continue their fairytale run by reaching the quarter-finals.
In one of the most unexpected outcomes of an already unpredictable group stage, Morocco reached the knockouts as runners-up to Colombia in Group H after beating the South Americans 1-0 while second-ranked Germany failed to advance.
Pedros, 51, is a former France international and said he was looking forward to taking on the country of his birth when the two teams face off in the last 16 in Adelaide.
“I am French but my heart is with Morocco,” Pedros told reporters on Monday. “It’s been three years since we’ve been working hard to get to these incredible objectives … It’s not a problem for me to win against France.
“I will do everything for us to qualify for the quarter-finals.”
Pedros won consecutive Champions League titles as manager of Olympique Lyonnais in 2019 and 2020. Six members of France’s World Cup squad played under him at Lyon, including captain Wendie Renard and all-time top scorer Eugenie Le Sommer.
“A few of us are bi-national and some of us play in France, so we know the players well,” said defender Nesryne El Chad, one of six players in the Morocco squad plying their trade in France. “This match will be special for us.”
Morocco, the first Arab nation to compete at the tournament, were thrashed 6-0 by Germany in the opener but 1-0 upsets of higher-ranked South Korea and Colombia propelled them into the last 16.
Pedros said after the Colombia game that he had the advantage of knowing the France team “perfectly”. Beating France, ranked fifth in the world, would be a remarkable achievement for 72nd-ranked Morocco.
“This round of 16 is against an amazing opponent,” Pedros said. “We have to go up a notch with the game that we have done against Colombia, which was already a very high level for us.
“We have to go beyond what we can do and what we can expect, because we would like to qualify for the quarter-finals.
“Of course, if we had been eliminated with six points, it would still have been fantastic for us. But we went further. Football is incredible, and you can never know what’s going to happen.”
-Reuters
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
What a goal-laden day for Nigeria; Falconets also win with wide margin!
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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.
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Okwuchukwu shines despite Nigeria’s defeat to Germany in U-20 Women’s World Cup
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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.
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Points of Note in Falconets’ loss to Germany
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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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