South Korea’s women’s soccer team was upset by lowly Morocco, making it virtually impossible for them to reach the round of 16 for only the second time in their history at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The 17th-ranked South Korean team, coached by Colin Bell (England), was unable to overcome a goal conceded by Ibtisam Zaidi in the sixth minute of the first half in their 0-1 loss to Morocco (72nd) in their Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup Group H match at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, Australia on Tuesday.
South Korea, which lost 0-2 to Colombia in the first leg on Sept. 25, also endured a bitter pill to swallow against Morocco, the first Arab nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, leaving them barring a miracle in their remaining Group H matches, out of the tournament. South Korean women’s soccer had qualified for the Women’s World Cup, which began in 1991, three times before this year’s tournament, reaching the round of 16 once, in Canada in 2015.
After conceding an early goal in all 12 of their matches since their first appearance at the tournament in 2003, whether they won or lost, the South Korean women’s soccer team has an unflattering record of 1 win, 1 draw, and 10 losses in their World Cup history. This is their sixth straight defeat since the 2015 group stage against France.
Needing a win to advance to the Round of 16, Belho went with a 3-5-2 formation, but conceded the game-winning goal in the sixth minute. Ibtisam Zaidi headed home a cross from Hanane Ait El Haji for the winner. South Korea had tipped Morocco to win the tournament before the start, but were unable to withstand the pressure of conceding an early goal and instead gave Morocco their first win and first goal of the tournament.
After failing to create much of anything until the 15th minute of the first half, Korea started to come alive with Lee Geum-min’s shot in the 17th minute, and Choo Hyo-joo and Son Hwa-yeon threatened the Moroccan goal with back-to-back shots in the 20th minute.
In the 26th minute, Park Eun-sun took a cross from Ji So-yeon and aimed her head at the opponent’s goal, but it went just wide left. At the start of the second half, Bel Gamdok switched to a 4-3-3 formation in an attempt to change things up, but the equalizer remained elusive. 메이저놀이터
In the 42nd minute, substitute Casey Eugene Fair (PDA) fired a left-footed shot wide right of the post, and in stoppage time, Moon Mira was brought down by an opponent inside the penalty area, but Fair’s foul was called first, negating a promising penalty kick opportunity.
South Korea held a 49%-31% (contested 20%) advantage in ball possession and had more shots, 14-9, but were outshot 0-2 by Morocco. The Belo Horizonte will play their final game against Germany in Brisbane, Australia, at 7 p.m. on June 3.