Debutantes Morocco claimed their first ever victory on the Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over South Korea of their second Group H encounter on Sunday, all however confirming the Asian aspect’s exit.
Morocco are 55 rungs under South Korea within the girls’s rankings, however the African aspect made an early breakthrough with their first ever World Cup aim from striker Ibtissam Jraidi.
In the sixth minute, Hanane Ait El Haj whipped in a cross from the correct and Jraidi dived ahead to make contact with a deft glancing header that went in on the far publish.
“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 informed reporters.
Park Eun-sun practically levelled with a diving header of her personal on the different finish however the ahead noticed her effort go agonisingly huge of the publish, a lot to the aid of Khadija Er-Rmichi in Morocco’s aim.
Er-Rmichi noticed Germany discover the web six instances of their group opener, however she was hardly examined by the South Koreans, who didn’t have a shot heading in the right direction and struggled to make inroads into the ultimate third because the Moroccan defence stood agency.
“There’s a sense of pride for us to pull this first World Cup win out of the bag,” coach Reynald Pedros mentioned, dedicating the victory to the king of Morocco.
“We didn’t change our philosophy” after dropping 6-0 to Germany, Pedros mentioned. “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 grew to become the primary participant to put on a scarf on the Women’s World Cup, made essential interventions, whereas she nearly scored from a set-piece when she volleyed a snapshot over the bar.
She even took one for the crew when she intentionally clipped Ji So-yun, who was racing by way of on aim on a counterattack with help, accepting a yellow card with out protest.
‘WORST TWO PERFORMANCES’
But South Korea couldn’t 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 practically equalised late within the sport, however the 16-year-old, who grew to become the youngest participant to take the sphere in Women’s World Cup historical past of their opener, fired huge to depart them backside 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,” mentioned Bell, who took over in 2019 and guided the crew to the ultimate of the Asian Cup final yr.
“The actuality is we weren’t adequate in each video games. Why that was, we’ve to analyse intimately. I’m not going to let my feelings take over now, and clearly we’re all very disillusioned.
“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 stage with Germany and Colombia with three factors forward of their sport afterward Sunday. South Korea have zero factors and will probably be eradicated if Germany keep away from defeat.
