Let’s take care of some housekeeping now that Group H is down to its final group games for Thursday.
GROUP H:
August 3rd, 5am CT:
Morocco vs. Colombia, Perth, FS1/NBC Universo
Korea Republic vs. Germany, Brisbane, Fox/Telemundo
Colombia just needs a draw against Morocco to advance and to win the group. It would require a loss of 5+ goals to Morocco, plus Germany winning its game against Korea Republic for Colombia not to advance.
Germany most likely advances with a win. A draw is good enough if Morocco do not better it.
Morocco needs to better the result Germany get. Otherwise, should they both win (or lose) they would have to make up the hefty goal difference against Colombia.
Korea Republic’s only chance to advance is to beat Germany by 4+ goals and Morocco to lose to Colombia.
Group A’s final matches went off at 2am CT and New Zealand and the Philippines will be taking no further part. It’s a shame for both teams having garnered a victory in this tournament, but the Ferns, like the All-Whites in South Africa in 2010, were undone by not finding that one goal that could have sent them through to the next round. Norway got more than enough goals over the Philippines to make up the difference with New Zealand and advance despite such a rocky start to their tournament.
Switzerland mainly did Swiss things are were efficient with their time and doing what they needed to to advance to the next round. A loss would have meant elimination given Norway’s big win, but they prevented the Football Ferns from getting a shot on target until the 74th minute.
Back to New Zealand, it’s disappointment not to get out of the group stage. Fans told the BBC, though, that they look forward to the future for the Ferns. There have been noticeable gains for New Zealand in soccer. The Men’s Olympic Team reached the quarterfinals in Tokyo in 2021 and were unlucky to lose in those quarterfinals to Japan. The U-20 men have gotten out of the group stage each of the last four editions.
The hope is that the women will one day enjoy success on the pitch and get beyond the group stage at a World Cup one day. In some ways, getting a win at this World Cup is a step in the right direction. The hope now is that direction continues to go forward into the future.
Of course, Colombia pulled the shock of the tournament so far with a 2-1 win over Germany. That win came with a last minute goal headed in off the corner by Manuela Vanegas in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Colombia has become of the stories of this World Cup and Linda Caicedo is emerging as one of its stars. Getting a win over #2-ranked Germany, now makes them one of the teams to watch for the rest of the tournament and will be trouble for Morocco as well as potential second round opponents.
Tomorrow, Australia are in essentially a must-win against Olympic Champions Canada. One of those teams will likely face an inquest as to what went wrong after the final whistle in Melbourne on Monday. Meanwhile, Nigeria will look to avoid the banana peels against Republic of Ireland. All to play for tomorrow.
