Germany crash out of Women’s World Cup in group stages as South Korea rock faves
Women’s World Cup: Wiegman impressed as England progress
Germany have been knocked out of the Women’s World Cup following their 1-1 draw with South Korea in one of the biggest shocks of the tournament, the first time they have ever failed to reach the quarter-finals. Colombia and Morocco both progressed through to the knockout stages from Group H, with the second-highest ranked country now eliminated.
Germany found themselves behind after just six minutes when Tottenham’s So-Hyun Cho latched onto a neat pass in-behind by Young-Ju Lee before sending goalkeeper Merle Frohms the wrong way to send the travelling South Korea fans into a frenzy with their first goal at the tournament.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side managed to ride the storm and equalised through Germany captain Alexandra Popp in the 42nd minute. The towering Wolfsburg star rose the highest to nod a glancing header into the far corner following a cross from Svenja Huth in what was her fourth goal of the tournament.
The equaliser meant that Germany were set to secure second place in Group H, but just minutes later at the Perth Rectangular Stadium, Morocco took the lead against Colombia through Anissa Lahmari after Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty was saved . They then held on to record a historic success, having been written off by many after their 6-0 loss to Germany in their opening match of the tournament.
With three points required, Germany continued to attack but to no avail, only managing to hit the target on four occasions throughout the 90 minutes – with Korea running the clock down late on to earn their first point in the competition.
Second-half substitute Sydney Lohmann came close to snatching all three points for her side late on when she managed to work the ball onto her right foot before firing a fierce strike just over the bar.
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Germany’s success earlier in the tournament came from the wide areas, making use of the height and power of their attack, but they failed to execute those tactics against Korea – despite finding the back of the net twice from similar openings. Popp thought that she had single-handedly completed the turnaround in the 57th minute when she bundled home from close-range following an exquisite pass from Lea Schuller, flicking the ball to the back post with her heel following a cross.
However, VAR intervened to rule that Popp was marginally offside when the ball was diverted into her direction. The German forward failed to make her mark beyond that point, having appeared to have injured her neck from the impact of landing on the ground following her disallowed goal. Germany were therefore knocked out of the competition in what was a miserable tournament for the nation, who will have arrived in Australia with hopes of getting their hands on the trophy.
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