Morocco Join Nigeria, S’Africa in Battle Against Their Colonial Masters
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses ranked 72nd by FIFA yesterday joined Nigeria and South Africa as three African teams that made it to the Round of 16 of the ongoing Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Now, these three African teams will be up in battle against these European nations that colonised them before gaining independence. While Nigeria will take on England, South Africa have a date with The Netherlands with Morocco in battle for quarter final berth against France.
Interestingly, it was France that stopped Morocco’s fairytale run at Qatar 2022.
The Lionesses defeated Colombia 1-0 to progress as runners up behind Group H winner Colombia on same six points. European power house, Germany finished third on four points to crash out. South Korea claimed the fourth place with just one miserable point from a possible nine.
Germany’s failure to beat South Korea means Morocco cruised into the knockout rounds as runners up.
Anissa Lahmari scored the only goal via a rebound after captain Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty was saved.
Surprisingly, Reynaud Pedros’s Morocco rose from the ashes of a 6-0 drubbing by the Germans in their opener to claim two famous victories against South Korea and now Colombia.
Morocco will play France in Adelaide on Tuesday for a place in the quarter final.
The Lionesses good run Down Under is a follow up to the feat achieved by Morocco’s senior men’s team at the last World Cup in Qatar. Morocco men’s team became the first African side to reach a FIFA World Cup semi-final.
The country is now seeing a second historic football achievement in the space of a year.
Colombia, who earned two wins in their first two matches and finish above Morocco on goal difference, will play Jamaica in Melbourne same Tuesday.
This follows the completion of Thursday’s group stage fixtures, Colombia and Morocco have now joined other 14 countries including the likes of Nigeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Japan, Spain, Sweden, United States, France, Australia, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland in the Round of 16 stages. The Round of 16 fixtures will take place on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Sadly, women’s football super powers like Germany (2), Brazil (8), Canada (7), Italy (16), China (14), and co-host New Zealand were all knocked out of the tournament at this group stage.
RESULTS
Morocco 1-0 Colombia
S’Korea 1-1 Germany
ROUND OF 16
(Fixtures)
*Saturday Aug. 5
Switzerland vs Spain
Japan vs Norway
*Sunday. Aug. 6
Netherlands vs S’Africa
Sweden vs USA
*Monday. Aug. 7
England vs Nigeria
Australia vs Denmark
*Tuesday. Aug. 8
Colombia vs Jamaica
France vs Morocco
HOW THEY FINISHED IN THE GROUP STAGE
GROUP A
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Switzerland 3. 1. 2. 0 2. 0 2. 5.
Norway 3. 1 1. 1. 6. 1. 5. 4.
N’Zealand 3. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 0. 4
Philippines. 3. 1. 0. 2. 1. 8. -7. 3.
GROUP B
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Australia 3. 2. 0 1. 7. 3. 4. 6
Nigeria 3. 1 2. 0 3. 2. 1. 5
Canada 3. 1. 1. 1. 2. 5. -3. 4
Ireland. 3. 0. 1. 2. 1. 3. -2. 1
GROUP C
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Japan 3. 3. 0. 0. 11 0 11. 9
Spain 3. 2. 0 1. 8. 4. 4. 6
Zambia 3. 1. 0. 2. 3. 11. -8. 3
Costa Rica3. 0. 0. 3. 1. 8. -7. 0
GROUP D
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
England 3. 3. 0. 0 8. 1. 7. 9
Denmark 3. 2. 0 1. 3. 1. 2. 6
China 3. 1. 0. 2. 2. 7. -5. 3.
Haiti. 3. 0. 0. 3. 0. 4. -4. 0.
GROUP E
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Netherlands 3. 2. 1 0 9. 1. 8. 7
USA 3. 1 2. 0 4. 1. 3. 5
Portugal 3. 1. 1. 1. 2. 1. 1. 4.
Vietnam . 3. 0. 0. 3. 0. 12. -12. 0
GROUP F
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
France 3. 2. 1 0 8. 4. 4. 7
Jamaica 3. 1 2. 0 1. 0 1. 5
Brazil 3. 1. 1. 1. 5. 2. 3. 4
Panama. 3. 0. 0. 3. 3. 11. -18. 0
GROUP G
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Sweden 3. 3. 0. 0. 9. 1. 8. 9
S’Africa 3. 1 1. 1. 6. 6. 0. 4
Italy 3. 1. 0. 2. 3. 8. -5. 3.
Argentina. 3. 0. 1. 2. 2. 5. -3. 1.
GROUP H
P. W. D. L. GF. GA. GD. Pts
Colombia 3. 2. 0. 1. 4. 2. 2. 6
Morocco 3. 2. 0 1. 2. 6. -4. 6
Germany 3. 1. 1. 1. 8. 3. 5. 4
S’Korea. 3. 0. 1. 2. 1. 4. -3. 1.
