In the conclusion of the group stage on Thursday, Africa’s performance in the Women’s World Cup has been nothing short of spectacular. Morocco, making their first appearance at the tournament, followed Nigeria and South Africa in advancing to the round of 16.
Morocco had a rough start to the championships, losing their first game 6-0 to defending champions Germany. However, they were able to recover and win their next two matches, beating South Korea and Colombia, respectively, to ensure their spot in the knockout round.
Their unexpectedly good run of performances led to the elimination of the much favored German team in the group stage, which was one of the most shocking outcomes of the event.
It had been about 24 hours before South Africa had stunned Italy with a thrilling last-second goal to progress, and it had also been about 24 hours since Nigeria had moved from Group B with two draws and a victory against the co-hosts Australia. The shock came about after both of those results.
Even Zambia, who had already been eliminated from the competition after suffering two straight thrashings of five goals or more, were able to leave with a victory after beating Costa Rica in their last group match.
The increase in the number of African teams competing in the finals from two to four was always going to improve Africa’s prospects of having at least one of its teams go to the knockout round of the competition.
However, even at that time, there were not very high expectations for the four African teams when they traveled to Australia and New Zealand.
Although Nigeria have not been eliminated from any of the nine Women’s World Cups, their reign as the dominant team in Africa has come to an end as a result of their poor performance in the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations last year, when they finished in fourth place.
South Africa did end up winning the continental championship, but their preparations were hampered by disagreements over money, which led to a walkout by the players a month ago.
As for Morocco, the first Arab team to participate, they seemed to be out of their depth as they delivered a horrible defensive showing. They looked every bit the 70 places they were placed behind Germany in an unpleasant World Cup welcome. Morocco was the first Arab nation to compete.
However, they shown an admirable determination to fight back and secure a top two position in Group H, despite the fact that they did so with some aid since Germany was unable to defeat South Korea on Thursday.
Their head coach Reynald Pedros had stated before the game that “You’ve always got to factor in the magic of the World Cup.”
The men’s team of Morocco finished in fourth place in Qatar in December, which was Africa’s greatest performance at the World Cup. The women’s team of Morocco now has the opportunity to shake up the conventional order and also break new ground.
Even though the odds are stacked against them, there will be great expectations now that the mazy run may continue, even though no African team has ever won a knockout game in a previous Women’s World Cup.
In the round of 16, South Africa will compete against the Netherlands, Morocco will play France, and Nigeria will face the England national team, who won the Euro 2022 tournament.
“They’ve shown that nothing can stop them if they put their mind to it and they play for each other,” South Africa coach Desire Ellis said of her players ahead of Sunday’s match in Sydney against the Netherlands, who have been in excellent form. “They’ve shown that nothing can stop them if they put their mind to it and they play for each other,” she added.