Women's World Cup 2023: a first round of games African sides will want to forget quickly
Women's World Cup 2023: a first round of games to forget quickly. Morocco and Zambia made disastrous debuts.
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Morocco had dreamed of the World Cup. The Atlas Lionesses perhaps imagined a run as creditable as the one the Lions enjoyed a few months ago, when they reached the semi-finals of the men's World Cup in Qatar. Their debut, unfortunately, was a nightmare. It must be said that the draw was unkind to the Moroccans. They played their first match at this 2023 Women's World Cup against one of the best nations in the history of women's football: Germany, two-time world champions (2003 and 2007).
The Germans showed no mercy. They quickly made clear that the gap in level was still huge. They won 6-0. Alexandra Popp scored a brace (11th and 39th minutes). Klara Buhl got the 3rd goal just after the restart (46th). Then Hanane (54th) and Mrabel (79th) scored own goals. Léa Shuller then wrapped up the 6-0 win early in stoppage time. In their 2nd game, Morocco will try to bounce back against South Korea.
Zambia were also making their debut on the world stage, and it is one they will not forget in a hurry. The Copper Queens were given a brutal initiation by Japan, a clean, comprehensive 5-0 defeat. Nigeria and South Africa, a little more experienced, made a slightly better start to this 2023 Women's World Cup. The Nigerians drew 0-0 with Canada. That is not such a bad result for Nigeria, since the Canadians are the reigning Olympic champions.
No worse than at the 2019 Women's World Cup
The other African side, South Africa, faced Sweden, the reigning Olympic runners-up. Banyana Banyana could have come away with at least a point. They took the lead through Magaia. However, the Swedes went ahead thanks to goals from Rolfo (65th) and Ilestedt (90th).
All in all, Africa comes out of this 1st round of games at the 2023 Women's World Cup with 1 draw, 3 defeats, 13 goals conceded and only 1 scored. That is no worse, however, than in 2019, at the previous edition. After the first round of games four years ago, South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon had all lost. While the Cameroonians and the Nigerians were able to recover and snatch a place as one of the "best third-placed teams" to reach the round of 16, the South Africans suffered 3 defeats and bid farewell to the competition.
Women's World Cup 2023: full schedule and results
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