World Cup, Day 11 Analysis
Colombia stun Germany with energetic display, while Switzerland and Norway go through and Morocco record a first World Cup win...
Key Morocco tweaks bring a big breakthrough
After taking the biggest loss of the tournament so far in their first game against Germany, Morocco needed a big response to keep their hopes of qualification alive.
They did so in style, not just turning around a hard defeat but walking away with three hard-earned points against a Korea Republic side ranked 55 places above them by FIFA.
Reynald Pedros made quite a few changes to his side and they had the desired effect. He tore up both his centre-back partnership and strike partnership and reverted Hanana Ait El Haj to her favoured right-back role, and the whole back four of El Haj, Nouhaila Benzina, Nesrryne El Chad and Zineb Redouani had excellent games in shutting down Korea Republic, particularly out wide as Colin Bell's side tried to stretch play in their 3-5-2, but lacked a final ball.
Up front, Salma Amani ands Ibtissam Jraidi were lively and the letter got the crucial goal to give Morocco their first ever World Cup win. One of their key players, Ghizlane Chebbak, showed her quality in the middle of the park, while wingers Fatima Tanganout and Sakina Ouzraoui combined with their full-backs to ensure Korea Republic had little joy down the flanks.
Morocco still has a tricky Colombia side to play, but they have at least given themselves a chance of qualification.
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Korea Republic disappoint yet again
What to make of Korea Republic? The second seed in the group, but have lost to teams ranked below them without scoring a goal and in reality, without ever really looking likely to do so.
As the game against Morocco went on, the camera pans to the touchline showed a head coach in Bell growing more and more frustrated with his team's inability to find a final ball.
When they did, they put all 14 of their attempts in the game off target, which just about sums it up. Korea Republic is now out of the tournament and it's a real shame as over the past few years they have been on an upward curve, beating Australia and drawing with Japan at the Asia Cup last year on their way to the final.
Despite a similar player pool, the execution just hasn't been the same. Bell has criticised the lack of intense training his players get domestically and that may have had an effect, but key players such as a Ji So-yun who hasn't been fully fit have been off the boil too.
He may wish he'd turned to 16-year-old Casey Phair sooner who again looked lively off the bench, going close with a low left-footed effort towards the end of the game.
Bell will face a familiar opponent next after spending many years coaching in Germany, but given what they've faced so far, it may be mean a clean sweep of defeats for a team ranked inside the top 15 in the world.
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