South Korea took the biggest scalp of the World Cup group stage, earning a stunning defensive performance and sending Germany, one of the favorites of the tournament, out of the competition with a draw.
Germany’s hopes of winning were crushed as they could only manage a draw against Colombia, resulting in both teams earning a single point. However, Morocco took an early lead against them, but Cho So-hyun’s header canceled out Alex Popp’s goal just before the end of the first half.
Germany’s manager, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, expressed, “The entire year was not as stable, we will examine that. We must analyze and derive conclusions. We must assume accountability, and it is evident that I bear the utmost responsibility.”
Perhaps Germany had not expected to go into this game needing a result. They are feeling confident in their group and likely to end up as runners-up, along with the debutants Morocco, who were separated by a huge 70 places in the Fifa rankings. South Korea, who are also ranked second in the rankings, had a large margin of victory over them, while Colombia, ranked 25th, are in 17th place.
Proving to be expensive is the lack of a coherent strategy and overconfidence in well-managed teams. If there is one thing that is shown in this group stage, it is that the gap between traditional powerhouses is rapidly closing.
“Colin Bell, the manager of South Korea, whose team ended up at the bottom of Group H, expressed, ‘We were in dire need of a goal and a triumph. The fact that we had two opportunities early on and managed to convert one of them provided us with a boost. Apart from Sydney Lohmann, no one posed any difficulties for us.'”
Bayern Munich forward Lea Schüller and Wolfsburg’s centre-back Marina Hegering started, while defender Sara Doorsoun and midfielder Lina Magull were benched. The Germany side, which had experienced a surprising loss against Colombia in their second game, made two alterations.
Eun-sun Park, Hwa-yeon Son, and Hye-ji Hong were substituted for Phair Casey, the 16-year-old forward, and Ga-ram Chun, Yu-ri Choe, as South Korea’s team made three alterations. Unfortunately, the team lost 1-0 to Morocco.
Germany appeared to be rattled early on by an aggressive press from Korea South, which took them six minutes to score a goal. It is possible that they were still shaken by their 2-1 loss to Colombia, as South Korea clearly had their homework done.
After two defeats in the World Cup, Germany, the defending comedic and criminally, switched off the run clean through her giving. It was the first goal of the team, which was found by Cho Young-ju from a defence-splitting pass by former Tottenham midfielder Lee. He coolly slotted it into the bottom-left corner.
Popp, who missed the final Euros due to an injury in the warm-up, equalised by powerfully heading Svenja’s cross to Kim Hye-ri before leaping into the area and ghosting.
In the closing moments of the opening half, Morocco unexpectedly gained an advantage just before stoppage time, but their hopes of advancing to the round of 16 were quickly dashed. This propelled Germany to claim the second position in the standings.
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VAR determined that Schüller was in an offside position, however, the goalkeeper got injured while going down, allowing the ball to be headed into the far post by another player. This happened when Sara Däbritz crossed the ball and Schüller flicked it on with her heel to Popp. Consequently, Germany scored another goal shortly before the hour mark.
Germany fought to create clear opportunities as wave after wave of pressure held South Korea back, but Popp hit the crossbar with another header. Both teams had two shots on target, but Germany dominated possession with 72% and South Korea had nine shots.
“Then time expires and you require a bit of fortune, but you cannot depend on fortune,” Voss-Tecklenburg expressed. “Ultimately, the differences are minimal but in the individual confrontation, we lacked presence, we were excessively immobile, and consequently, it becomes challenging to generate significant opportunities.”
At the final whistle in Brisbane, the players of Morocco, who had suffered a devastating 6-0 loss to Germany in the opening game of the screamed tournament, huddled together in a group in Perth, more than 4,000 km away. Tears flowed and bodies were folded in despair as the news of the result filtered through.
“I am uncertain about what to articulate as I am unable to grasp the occurrences that have transpired in this location,” a startled Popp expressed.
“It was rough for us. This was not our objective, but I cannot explain why this has occurred.”