Morocco are through the Round of 16 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time ever after recording a narrow 1-0 win over Colombia in Perth on Thursday while two-time champions Germany were eliminated thanks to their 1-1 draw with South Korea.
The Atlas Lionesses were within reach of historic qualification following their 1-o win over the Koreans last time out, their first-ever win in their maiden outing at the Mundial and coach Reynald Pedros declared his team were already dreaming of reaching the knockout phase.
The Moroccans needed to defeat already-qualified Colombia while hoping Germany fail to win South Korea. The script went according to plan in added time of the first half when Anissa Lahmari scored from a rebound off Ghizlane Chebbak’s missed penalty.
In Germany’s game in Brisbane, South Korea took the lead in just the sixth minute of play courtesy of Cho So-Hyun and while it seemed the Asian giants were going to bow out of the tournament with three points, DFB-Frauen pulled one back through Alexandra Popp three minutes to the half-time break. Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s ladies pushed for the winner even with an additional 15 minutes but found no way through while Morocco held firm in denying Colombia getting a goal.
المستحيل ليس مغربيا ????????????
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— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) August 3, 2023
Morocco are the only team out of seven other debutants in Australia and New Zealand that made it to the round of 16. They are also the third of four African teams to progress after the Super Falcons of Nigeria and Banyana Banyana of South Africa.
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— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 3, 2023
Pedros’ ladies now have a date with France in Adelaide next Tuesday, a repeat of the men’s semi-final at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar which Le Bleus won 2-0 before losing on penalties to Argentina in the final while the Atlas Lions lost 2-1 to Croatia in the bronze medal match.
