By Justin Chadwick
Morocco have pipped Germany for a spot in the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup after posting a shock 1-0 win over Colombia in Perth.
A first-half strike from Anissa Lahmari and some heroic goalkeeping by Khadija Er-Rmich were enough to secure the win for Morocco in front of 17,342 mostly-Colombian fans on Thursday.
Fatima Tagnaout of Morocco controls the ball against Linda Caicedo of Colombia during the Group H match at Perth Rectangular Stadium.Credit: FIFA
After beating Colombia, world No.72 Morocco faced a nervous few minutes waiting for the final result of the Germany-South Korea game, which was locked at 1-1 deep into added time.
A German win would have demoted Morocco to third in Group H, but South Korea held on to spark wild celebrations among the North African players who had assembled in a circle.
“When we had won the match, the most stressful thing was the other match,” Morocco coach Reynald Pedros said.
“We waited, and then the good news arrived. It was incredible.”
Lahmari added: “At the end of our game, we had the phone and we were praying, waiting for the result to come out of the Germany and Korea game.
“It was a draw and afterwards it was a complete explosion of joy.”
Morocco had already made history by becoming the first Arab and north African nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup.
Now, they will take on Group F winners France in the round of 16 in Adelaide on Tuesday.
It marks a remarkable turnaround for Morocco, who lost their opening match 6-0 to Germany.
“After the first match of the tournament, I think 95 per cent or 98 per cent of people thought it was over, apart from us,” Pedros said.
“We thought we could do something, because football is magic.
“We know that emotions and hard work can lead to good things.
“If we are at the next stage, it’s because we deserve it, for all the hard work we put in.”
Despite their shock loss, Colombia still finished on top of group H courtesy of their wins over South Korea and Germany and a vastly superior goal difference to Morocco.
World No.25 Colombia will take on Jamaica in Melbourne on Tuesday.
“We are going to come up against a difficult opponent,” Colombia coach Nelson Abadia said.
“Jamaica are very well structured defensively, they have a strong counter-attack.
“For that reason they have reached this stage that we are in as well.”
Colombia defender Manuela Vanegas will miss that match after picking up her second yellow card of the group stage.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between early on Thursday night, but the game exploded in first-half added time when Colombia defender Daniela Arias gave away a penalty for her clumsy shove on Ibtissam Jraidi.
Goalkeeper Catalina Perez dived to her left to block Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty, but Sakina Ouzraoui pounced on the rebound before squaring it to Lahmari for an easy tap-in.
Morocco goalkeeper Er-Rmichi pulled off a stunning save with her outstretched right boot to deny Colombia captain Daniela Montoya in the 59th minute, and she executed another sharp save on 73 minutes to deny a close-range strike from star teenage striker Linda Caicedo.
AAP
