{"id":46409,"date":"2023-08-04T18:06:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T18:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16"},"modified":"2023-08-04T18:59:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T18:59:12","slug":"explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16","title":{"rendered":"Explosion of joy’ as World Cup debutants Morocco reach last 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Goal-scorer Anissa Lahmari called it an “explosion of joy” as World Cup debutants Morocco qualified for the last 16 at the expense of Germany after stunning Colombia 1-0 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

One of the lowest-ranked teams at the tournament at 72 in the world, Morocco face France on Tuesday in the knockouts.<\/p>\n

Lahmari’s winner just before half-time separated the teams in Perth, but Morocco then endured a few nerve-jangling minutes with Germany and South Korea locked at 1-1 in Brisbane and still playing.<\/p>\n

Two-times former champions Germany needed a victory to overtake Morocco on goal difference and progress from Group H.<\/p>\n

But they could not produce a late winner, triggering wild celebrations from Morocco’s players and staff.<\/p>\n

“At the end of our game, we came together and we were praying,” Lahmari told reporters.<\/p>\n

“(When we found out) it was a draw… it was a complete explosion of joy.<\/p>\n

“We are so proud, delighted and happy. Emotions are running high.”<\/p>\n

It was a fairytale moment for Morocco, who rebounded from a humiliating 6-0 drubbing on their debut against Germany with wins over South Korea and now Colombia.<\/p>\n

They will be dreaming of emulating their men’s team, who made a shock run to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar last year.<\/p>\n

“We came here as debutants. There was a lot of emotion and those emotions were overwhelming against Germany,” said coach Reynald Pedros.<\/p>\n

“We helped them continue to be motivated, made adjustments and there was a lot of hard work.”<\/p>\n

The clash with France pits Pedros against the country he represented as a player.<\/p>\n

“It is very special because it is France,” Pedros said.<\/p>\n

“I know the French team very well and maybe it will help us. They will be very difficult to play.<\/p>\n

“If we have the same mindset, maybe we can go further. Our objective is not to stop now.”<\/p>\n

Despite the defeat Colombia finished on top of the group to set up a clash with Jamaica.<\/p>\n

They will be without defender Manuela Vanegas, who picked up her second yellow card of the tournament.<\/p>\n

“We can replace her… we wanted to qualify first in our group,” said Colombia coach Nelson Abadia, explaining his decision to play Vanegas.<\/p>\n

“The next match is sudden death. We are facing a very good rival who are physical, good in defence and have a good counterattack.<\/p>\n

“It is a good opportunity for both teams.”<\/p>\n

– Caicedo clattered –<\/b><\/p>\n

In front of 17,342 fans in Perth, the sole goal arrived moments before half-time when Ibtissam Jraidi was impeded in the box.<\/p>\n

Morocco captain Ghizlane Chebbak’s penalty kick was spectacularly saved by goalkeeper Catalina Perez, who dived to her left.<\/p>\n

But Sakina Ouzraoui pounced on the rebound and her nifty pass found Lahmari, who made no mistake from close range.<\/p>\n

Colombia fielded a full-strength team despite having effectively qualified for the last 16 before this game.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid striker Linda Caicedo took her place after x-rays cleared her of any health issues.<\/p>\n

Caicedo, who scored goals in wins against South Korea and Germany, had suffered breathing difficulties against the Germans just days after collapsing in training with chest pain.<\/p>\n

Caicedo had limited impact against Morocco and copped an errant tackle to her foot which had her writhing on the turf.<\/p>\n

She was finally involved just before half-time with several menacing dashes down the right, but Colombia couldn’t capitalise.<\/p>\n

Morocco made them pay with Lahmari’s goal putting the group on a knife’s edge at the interval.<\/p>\n

Colombia came out aggressively and almost equalised on the hour when Daniela Montoya’s bullet effort was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Khadija Er-Rmichi.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Goal-scorer Anissa Lahmari called it an “explosion of joy” as World Cup debutants Morocco qualified for the last 16 at the expense of Germany after stunning Colombia 1-0 on Thursday. One of the lowest-ranked teams at the tournament at 72 in the world, Morocco face France on Tuesday in the knockouts. Lahmari’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,235,243,5034,4836,233],"class_list":["post-46409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-morocco","tag-supporters","tag-womens-world-cup-2023","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nExplosion of joy' as World Cup debutants Morocco reach last 16 - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Goal-scorer Anissa Lahmari called it an "explosion of joy" as World Cup debutants Morocco qualified for the last 16 at t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explosion of joy' as World Cup debutants Morocco reach last 16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Goal-scorer Anissa Lahmari called it an "explosion of joy" as World Cup debutants Morocco qualified for the last 16 at t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-04T18:06:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-04T18:59:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/08\/sm_1691158230.083619.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Explosion of joy’ as World Cup debutants Morocco reach last 16\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-04T18:06:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-04T18:59:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\"},\"wordCount\":627,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2023\/08\/sm_1691158230.083619.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Morocco\",\"supporters\",\"Women's World Cup 2023\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/explosion-of-joy-as-world-cup-debutants-morocco-reach-last-16\",\"name\":\"Explosion of joy' as World Cup debutants Morocco reach last 16 - 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