The Morocco women’s national team had a World Cup debut to forget as they were thumped 6-0 by two-time champions Germany in Group H at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Monday.
The Germans were making their ninth appearance at the Mundial, a record with six other countries (Nigeria, United States, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, Japan) to have featured at every World Cup so far. For Morocco, it was their maiden outing after finishing runners-up in their first-ever Africa Women’s Cup of Nations last year which was held on home soil.
The DFB-Frauen were the dominant side from kickoff and took the lead in the 11th minute when captain and star player Alexandra Popp powered in a header from Kathrin Hendrich’s delivery. Germany’s lead was doubled six minutes to the half time break when Klara Buhl’s corner took a touch off Popp and into the back of the net.
Morocco nearly had the ball in the back of net few minutes later when Anissa Lahmari fed the ball for Fatima Tagnaout to score in a decent position but the latter was flagged for offside.
It became 3-0 to Germany just 23 seconds into the second half as Buhl fired past Morocco goalkeeper Khadija Ermichi. The Atlas Lionesses thought they had scored their first World Cup goal when Lahmari put the ball in after brilliant play from Ghizlane Chebbak. The effort was however ruled out for offside.
The North African’s woes were further compounded when Popp curled the ball in the 54th minute but it took a touch off Hanna Ait El Haj as an own goal, denying Popp the chance for hat-trick.
Another own goal surfaced in the 79th minute from Moroccan left-back Zineb Redouani before substitute Lea Schuller put the final nail in the coffin in the 90th minute to hand Germany the biggest win at this World Cup. The Bayern Munich forward nearly had her brace in the fifth minute of added time with a header but it was chalked off for offside.
نهاية المقابلة بفوز منتخب ألمانيا أمام منتخبنا الوطني النسوي
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Time to regroup and come back stronger for the next matches #DimaMaghrib #OneGameOneFamily #AtlasLionesses pic.twitter.com/SC5T4lvyio— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) July 24, 2023
The result also means every debutant at the World Cup (Zambia, Portugal, Philippines, Vietnam, Portugal, Ireland and now Morocco) so far have failed to win their first match and have also failed to score in their first game.
It is left for Panama to break the jinx when they face South American giants Brazil in a Group F encounter at the Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide on Monday as well.
