Germany showed little mercy to World Cup debutants Morocco, putting the north Africans to the sword with a 6-0 hammering to underline their tournament credentials at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Monday, July 24.
Alexander Popp scored twice to set them on their way whike Klara Buhl and Lea Schuller were also on target. But Morocco also contributed to their own downfall after Zineb Redouani and Hanane Ait El Haj scored own goals in their Group H opener.
Germany, two-time Women’s World Cup champions, got off to a good start when Popp, who suffered injury heartbreak when she had to withdraw from the Euro 2022 final after the warmup, got on the end of Kathrin Hendrich’s pinpoint delivery to dispatch an 11th minute international goal.
The Wolfsburg striker then doubled the lead from Klara Buhl’s 39th-minute corner, and the excellent Buhl made it 3-0 within half a minute of the restart.
Cracks in Morocco’s game plan continued to surface after the interval, with Buhl taking only 23 seconds to swoop on a poor clearance and rifle a low strike into the right corner.
The occasion continued to get away from Reynald Pedros’ side as defender Hanane Ait El Haj put the ball into her own net less than 10 minutes later, before Yasmin Mrabet suffered the same fate attempting to clear off her goal-line.
Lea Schueller completed the rout in the 90th minute, smashing in the sixth after Lena Lattwein’s attempt pinged fortuitously off the goalkeeper.
In a post-match press conference, Popp said: “I’m happy that I’ve been healthy this year, that I can be here with my team and support them. That to me is incredibly important and gives me strength.
Germany’s forward Alexandra Popp celebrates with teammates after scoring.
“It was great to start this way. Of course, not everything went optimally, that would be too much to ask of the first match. But how we played today, that gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament,” she added.
The Moroccans are the first Arab nation to play in a Women’s World Cup and, at 72 in the FIFA rankings, the lowest-ranked team in the competition.
Group H returns on Saturday July 30. Germany will take on Colombia while Morocco play South Korea.
The final group games will take place on Thursday August 3. Germany will face South Korea, while Morocco take on Colombia.
Morocco (4-4-2, right to left): 1-Er-Rmichi (GK) — 4-Sarah Kassi, 17-Hanane Ait El Haj, 21-Yasmin Mrabet 2-Zineb Redouani — 19-Sakina Ouzraoui, 6-Elodie Nakkach, 7-Ghizlane Chebbak 11-Fatima Tagnaout — 23-Rosella Ayane, 16-Anissa Lahmari (8-Salma Amani)
Germany (4-3-3, right to left): 1-Merle Frohms (GK) — 9-Svenja Huth, 3-Kathrin Hendrich, 23-Sara Doorsoun, 17-Felicitas Rauch — 20-Lina Magull (7-Lea Schuller), 18-Melanie Leupolz (14-Lena Lattwein), 13-Sara Dabritz — 22-Jule Brand, 11-Alexandra Popp (10-Laura Freigang), 19-Klara Buhl (16-Nicole Anyomi)
SOURCE: GraphicOnline
