Morocco scored early thorough Ibtissam Jraidi and then held on for a historic first-ever Women’s World Cup victory as they beat South Korea 1-0 in Adelaide on Sunday to bounce back after a horror six goal thrashing in their opening Group H game.
The north Africans showed resilience and mental fortitude in putting behind them their 6-0 loss to Gemany on Monday and taking their first ever World Cup points in their maiden appearance at the finals.
It also means Morocco are now well placed to advance to the next stage of the tournament, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, when they meet Colombia in their last group game in Perth on Thursday.
Morocco, whose coach Reynald Pedos said they had put Monday’s defeat by Germany behind them, showed plenty early signs of positivity in a game that had a high tempo.
They were also ahead early. Hanane Ait El Haj whipped in a perfect cross from the right-hand side and a diving Jraidi got her head to the ball, ahead of the defenders, to steer it into the net for a first-ever Women’s World Cup goal for the north Africans.
Korea had a good chance to equalise in the 20th minute with a miscued effort that fell for Son Hwayeon at the back post, but she failed to get a touch onto the ball.
Park Eunsun had another good opportunity in the 26th minute as Korea looked to have recovered from the early shock of conceding and were getting back into the game. She directed her header narrowly wide.
Morocco, however, remained a threat, particularly with their pace and a direct ball from the goalkeeper saw Fatima Tagnaout flying away down the left flank, squaring the ball into the penalty area where Salma Amani was let down by her first touch and put it wide of target when it looked easier to score, only minutes later.
Sakina Ouzraoui’s skills allowed her to win possession, jinxing the defence and setting herself up on the edge of the area but her left footed effort was scuffed around the half hour mark.
At the start of the second half, defender Nouhaila Benzina, the first women to wear a hijab at the Women’s World Cup, might have written her name in further lights with an opportunity from a corner that was spilt by the Korea goalkeeper Kim Jungmi, but her snap effort went over the top of the goal.
Korea then began to dominated proceedings but were thwarted by tight defending from Morocco, showing none of the frailties that beset them against the Germans.
Korea’s 16-year-old American-born substitute Casey Phair should have equalised in the last four minutes, given time to turn in the box and shoot but was wide.
There was an even better effort in the 88th minute for Morocco’s substitute Rosella Ayane but she made as horrible mess of her shot when she had only the goalkeeper to beat.
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