After Zambia’s 5-0 loss to Japan in its opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, another African debutant at the tournament, Morocco followed suit with a 6-0 loss to two-time World champions, Germany on Monday.
Germany stormed to a 6-0 win over Morocco in their opening group game. Popp starred in the first half, scoring Germany’s first two goals either side of Dabritz’s disallowed goal.
They came out on a mission after the break, with Buhl adding to their tally just 23 seconds after the restart. Lahmari thought she’d scored Morocco’s first-ever World Cup goal, only to be denied by the flag herself before two own goals, from Ait El Haj and Mrabet put the game out of sight. Schuller came off the bench to add a sixth in the final minute before having a second ruled out for offside minutes later.
German coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg made just two changes from the side that suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Zambia in a friendly last time out, bringing Melanie Leupolz and Sara Doorsoun in. Marina Hegering and Lena Oberdorf drop to the bench.
Reynald Pedros made three changes to the team that started their friendly draw against Switzerland earlier in the month. Sarah Kassi, Fatima Tagnaout, and Anissa Lahmari are all brought in, with Sabah Seghir and Salma Amani starting on the bench.
Alexander Popp opened the scoring for the European side in the 11th minute. Kathrin Hendrich found herself in a very advanced position from centre-back and she took the goalkeeper out of the game with a brilliant cross into Popp.
In the 39th minute, Popp doubled the lead. Germany won a corner which was swung in by Buhl, and it missed everyone at the near post. It was an improvised finish by Popp on the edge of the six-yard box, as she turned to try and lose Mrabet, and it came off her shoulder, flying past Er-Rmichi down the middle.
After the interval, Morocco sloppily gave the ball away just after the kick-off and Buhl whipped a cross in. Jule Brand flicked it to Lina Magull who hit the near post from close range and Germany kept it alive. It was bundled towards Klara Buhl on the far side and she fired past Khadija Er-Rmichi after just 23 seconds.
In the 54th minute, another corner caused Morocco problems as Buhl curled it into the far post. It was half-cleared by Lahmari, but Popp is hovering on the edge of the box to curl it back into the box. Yasmin Mrbaet rose to take it away from Magull, but her clearance hit Hanane Ait El Haj and rolled into the bottom corner.
Morocco hasn’t been able to cope with Germany’s threat from corners, and they created their own problems again. Er-Rmichi punched it against the back of Mrbaet’s head and bounced it toward goal. Radouani is on the line, but her attempted clearance is awkward as it bounces off her thigh. She can’t stop it from crossing the line though, and this own goal goes to Yasmine Mrabet in the 79th minute.
It was Laura Friegang causing problems down the right in the 90th minute and she pulled it back to Lena Lattwein, who took the shot first time. Er-Rmichi stretched to make a good save, but she parried it straight to Schuller, who made no mistake as she fired it into the empty net.
Germany registered the biggest win of the Women’s World Cup so far with that scoreline, and they go top of Group H with a good goal difference. Next up for them is Colombia. Despite the heavy defeat, there were still positives for Morocco, and they’ll be hoping to react against South Korea.
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