Debutants, Atlas Lionesses of Morocco have qualified for the round of 16 of the ongoing Women’s World Cup after defeating Colombia 1-0 in Group H’s last matches.
Anissa Lahmari scored the only goal of the match through a rebound after Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty was saved.
Morocco is the only debutant in this World Cup to reach the last 16, the other seven have been eliminated. Having reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup with their men’s team, Morocco is the second African nation to reach the knockout stages of successive men’s/women’s World Cup after Nigeria in France 98 for the men and USA 99 for the women.
The Atlas Lionesses are also the first African side to keep a clean sheet in successive FIFA Women’s World Cup matches.
Morocco will take on France in Adelaide on Tuesday while group winners, Colombia will take on Jamaica in Melbourne same day. The winner of the Colombia-Jamaica match will take on the winner between Nigeria and England.
Germany was eliminated after they settled for a 1-1 draw with South Korea, whom they needed to defeat to qualify.
The Germans weep as their World Cup comes to a painful end
This World Cup is full of surprises as Olympic champions Canada and pretournament favorites Brazil and Germany have all been eliminated in the group stage.
