Football 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: South Korea defeats Morocco 1-0 in Group H
Head coach Colleen Bell's South Korea women's football team conceded a goal in the sixth minute of the first half in their second match of Group H of the FIFA Women's World Cup 7 against Morocco on Sunday, July 30, and ultimately lost 2023-6 after failing to overturn the result. South Korea will try to win their first World Cup in eight years against No. 0 Germany on August 1 at 8 p.m. ET.
The South Korean women's national football team is mired in a two-game losing streak after losing 7-30 to Morocco in the second leg of Group H of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 tournament at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, Australia on July 2.
South Korea (No. 17 in the FIFA rankings) made their first-ever Women's World Cup debut at the tournament and attempted to win their first World Cup in eight years against Morocco (ranked No. 72), who were considered the weakest team, but they fell victim to Morocco's historic first World Cup win.
South Korea's last victory in the Women's World Cup came on June 2015, 6, in the third group stage match against Spain, a 15-2 comeback victory over Canada.
Morocco, who lost 1-0 to Germany in the first leg of Group H, put South Korea under pressure from the start of the match.
South Korea trailed 6-0 in the sixth minute of the first half when they conceded a diving header to Yiptisam Zreidie, who overcame a contest from Hong Hye-ji. Zreidi became the first Moroccan player in FIFA Women's World Cup history to score a goal.
After scoring one goal to gain momentum, Morocco continued to put South Korea under pressure. In the 25th minute of the first half, Ji So-yeon put in a sharp cross from the Moroccan side, and Park Eun-sun threw himself in and headed into the left side of the net, but it was narrowly missed.
South Korea finished the first half without scoring a goal.
Head coach Colin Bell substituted Choi Yuri and Moon Mira at the start of the second half, substituting Son Hwa-yeon and Choo Hyo-joo. South Korea showed a lively attack in the Moroccan camp compared to the first half, creating their first corner kick opportunity 13 minutes into the second half.
The national team had a total of six corner kick opportunities in the second half alone, and while they continued to produce good attacking performances, they lacked precision in front of goal.
In particular, Casey Fair, who became the youngest player ever to play in a Women's World Cup, came on as a substitute in the 39th minute of the second half and two minutes after entering the pitch, his left-footed shot went just wide of the right side of the net.
In the end, South Korea was unable to overturn the result and finished the match 0-1.
The women's soccer team suffered their first defeat in four consecutive tournaments (7, 25, 1 and 0) after a 2-2003 defeat against Colombia in the first leg of their group stage match on July 2015, and are on the brink of their third group stage defeat after 2019 and 2023 after losing two consecutive games in the second leg today.
However, Korea will continue to try to win one game again in the final game against Germany with an "unbreakable heart".
On the other hand, the outcome of the match between Germany and Colombia, the second leg of Group H, which starts at 6:30 p.m. KST, could confirm whether South Korea will be eliminated from the round of 2.