Women’s World Cup Roundup: Day 11 featured Group A finale and upsets in Group H

Four matchups on Day 11 of the Women’s World Cup featured a handful of close, hard-fought games, a dramatic upset, and a dominating performance which brought more clarity on which teams will advance through the group stage and into the knock-out rounds. One of the hosts sees their run end early while their group mates punch tickets to the next round, and group H has been blown wide open after 2 upsets.

Women’s World Cup Roundup

Morocco gets first-ever World Cup win against South Korea

South Korea and Morocco kicked off day 11 in dramatic fashion. South Korea came into this match as the #17 best Women’s team in the world, and playing against Morocco, ranked #72 and yet to score a World Cup goal in their nation’s history. But despite the expectations for South Korea to get 3 points against an inexperienced opponent, all of that changed very early in the game.

6 minutes in, Hanane Ait El Haj collected a pass along the sideline and sent in a cross with her right foot from the keeper’s left-hand side. The cross into the penalty area was placed perfectly at the 6-yard box at the near post for the arriving head of Ibtissam Jraidi. Jraidi’s diving header directed the ball across the face of the goal and just inside the far post to give Morocco an early and shocking 1-0 lead.

Jraidi’s goal marks the first in Morocco’s World Cup history and would keep their hopes of reaching the knock-out stage alive if they could see the result through and earn their first win ever at the World Cup.

With the early lead, it made sense that South Korea would go on to possess the ball for the majority of the remainder of the game, and they did. But despite that, it was Morocco who probably had the better chance of getting the next goal. Though South Korea out-possessed Morocco 62% to 38% and out-shot them 16-10, It was Morocco who had the better Big Chances at 3-1, and total shots on target at 2-0.

South Korea’s best chance to equalize came in the 87th minute, when Casey Phair received a ball around the penalty mark, shot with her left foot, but sent the ball along the ground just wide of the far post. South Korea got in really good positions in the final minutes of the game, but on 2 or 3 occasions, the final ball was really bad – like nowhere near the intended mark.

You could clearly see the thoughts of head coach Collin Bell as he shouted in frustration at the lack of execution from his side to deliver a final ball that even gives his team a chance at equalizing. But it never came, and history was made with Morocco winning their first game ever at the World Cup and earning 3 points in the standings and keeping their hopes alive, and ending South Korea’s hopes of advancing.

Group H Standings

Colombia – 6 pts | +3
Germany – 3 pts | +5
Morocco – 3 pts | -5
South Korea – 0 pts | -3

Colombia produces the shock of the tournament by beating Germany!

Match 2 of Day 11 at this World Cup gave us another dramatic upset that will have big implications on how Group H shakes out. Coming off a 6-0 win in their first game, #2 ranked Germany was looking to punch their tickets to the knock-out round against Colombia, but Colombia had other ideas. Though no one scored in the first half, Germany was certainly on the front foot, out-possessing Colombia 67% to 33% and completing 227 accurate passes to Colombia’s 84. But in terms of goal-scoring chances in the first half, neither team really threatened to open the scoring. Germany had 5 total shots to Colombia’s 4, with both teams only getting 1 attempt each on target.

The second half was much more eventful than the first. In the 52nd minute, just a few minutes into the second half, Colombia found the breakthrough against the run of play when Linda Caicedo collected a blocked shot in the box to the keeper’s right-hand side. Caicedo drifted to the left with two defenders looming, shifted the ball to their right foot, splitting the defenders, and let a shot with her right foot rip and find the far upper 90 corners of the net.

The wonderful goal by Caicedo gave Colombia the 1-0 lead against Germany and would lead group H and advance to the knock-out stage if they could see the result through. But Germany wouldn’t go down easy. Knowing that a loss would mean their place in the knock-out round would be in jeopardy after Morocco’s result earlier in the day, Germany knew at least a draw would alleviate the possibility of a huge upset happening in Group H. Despite that, Germany failed to conjure up any real threatening moments to equalize the game.

But in the 88th minute, moments away from a 1-0 win, Germany found a window back into the game, when a through ball to Lena Oberdorf sent her one-on-one with Colombia’s keeper Catalina Perez. Oberdorf touched the ball neatly around the on-rushing Perez, who lunged out in desperation and took Oberdorf out in the process, granting Germany a PK with minutes left. Alexandra Popp stepped up, and slotted her 4th goal of the competition home, equalizing the game at 1-1 in the 89th minute.

The draw would be huge for the entire group, meaning Germany, Colombia, and Morocco would all still be alive and in contention for the 2 spots to advance in Group H.

But the match and the fate of group H took one final turn, in the 7th of 6 minutes of stoppage time, Colombia sent in a corner kick from the foot of Leicy Santos, which was headed home from about 14 yards out by Manuela Vanegas, to give Colombia the 2-1 win at the death, giving them the #1 spot in Group H for the moment, and heightening their chance of advancing to the knock-out round.

The final match dayat this World Cup in Group H will feature 3rd place Morocco vs 1st place Colombia, and 4th place South Korea vs 2nd place Germany. This group still has a lot of shaking out to do.

Group H Standings

Colombia – 6 pts | +3
Germany – 3 pts | +5
Morocco – 3 pts | -5
South Korea – 0 pts | -3

New Zealand can’t find a goal as Switzerland top group

Next, we saw matchday 3 action from group A to sort out which two teams advanced from the group to the knock-out stage at the 2023 World Cup. First, we had the hosts #26 New Zealand vs #20 Switzerland. Coming into this match, The hosts knew a win would give them a much better chance at advancing than a draw and hoping the Philippines get a result against Norway.

Scoring a goal was always something they needed to do in match day 3, and they showed that urgency by out-shooting Switzerland by a total of 12-3. New Zealand’s first good chance in the 24th minute was when a long ball over the top found Jacqueline Hand in the box, who tried to flick the ball over the top of the keeper and was denied by only the cross-bar.

The second half featured Switzerland getting into a lot of really good positions on the counterattack, consistently getting the ball into the box, and failing to either get a pass to a teammate for a shot on net or get a shot on net themselves. Switzerland spent a lot of time getting in good threatening positions and doing nothing with it in the end.

A draw helped Switzerland’s chances to advance a lot more than it did New Zealand’s and after the 70th minute, the urgency in New Zealand’s game to find the winner was clear. In the 74th minute, New Zealand found their best opportunity to break the deadlock when a cross into the box found Malia Steinmetz, but the ball was caught underneath her a bit and the attempt did nothing to trouble the keeper. Unfortunately for New Zealand, that would pretty much be it for the game, and it would end in a 0-0 draw, ending their runs as hosts at the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Group A standings

Switzerland – 5 pts | +2
Norway – 4 pts | +5
New Zealand – 4 pts | 0
Philippines – 3 pts | -7

Norway puts six past the Philippines

The final match from day 11 featured Norway and the Philippines to finish off Group A. Coming off a shocking 1-0 win against New Zealand, it was always going to be tough for the #46 ranked Philippines to get a result against #12 Norway, and that proved to be true. Noway dominated this game, outprocessing their opponents by a total of 72% to 18%, and out-shooting them 31-4.

The scoring started early in the 6th minute when Sophie Haug volleyed home a cross from Thea Bjelde to give Norway the 1-0 lead. Sophie Huag would make it a brave in the 17th minute from another cross almost identical to the first, this time off the foot of Vilde Boe Risa. And in the 31st minute, Norway would score their third and final goal of the first half, with a left-footed blast that found the far bottom corner of the net by Carolina Graham Hansen.

The second half didn’t get any easier for the Philippines, with Alicia Baker accidentally re-directing a clearance attempt into her own net, to give Norway a 4-0 lead. Guro Reiten added insult to injury a few moments later in the 53rd minute from the penalty spot to give Norway a demanding 5-0 and all but ensure their spot in the knock-out round.

But if that wasn’t enough of a statement, against the 10-player Philippines, Sophie Haug put a cap on the performance by heading home her third goal of the night, giving her a hat-trick, and earning Norway the a spot in the knockout rounds at this World Cup.

Group A standings

Switzerland – 5 pts | +2
Norway – 4 pts | +5
New Zealand – 4 pts | 0
Philippines – 3 pts | -7

Day 11 of this World Cup was eventful and gives us a clearer picture of what the knockout stage could be like, and what kind of dramatic games we can expect from matchday 3 of some of these groups. There’s still a lot of action left in the group stage, Including USA’s final match of the group. Stay up-to-date on all the action throughout the tournament with PSN.