Preview: South Korea Women vs. Germany Women
Germany Women will look to bounce back from a surprise defeat to Colombia when they face South Korea Women in the final group game of the Women’s World Cup 2023.
The Euro 2022 finalists head into Thursday’s encounter in second position, while South Korea are languishing at the bottom of the group after losing their opening two games.
After beginning the tournament with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Colombia, South Korea would have been looking for a positive response when they faced Morocco on Matchday Two.
Unfortunately for Colin Bell’s side, they got off to a disastrous start as Ibtissam Jraidi struck in the sixth minute to give Morocco an early lead.
Despite experiencing over 60% possession, South Korea could not register a shot on target, ensuring they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat.
Having failed to pick up a point in their opening two games, South Korea require a miracle to reach the knockout rounds, as they need to beat Germany by a five-goal margin and hope Morocco lose to Colombia.
While it is highly likely that South Korea will be eliminated on Thursday, they will still be determined to claim a positive result, having lost their last six games at the Women’s World Cup since beating Spain 2-1 in the 2015 tournament.
Germany flew out of the starting blocks with a commanding 6-0 win against Morocco in their opening game, but any momentum gained from that win was halted by a shock defeat to Colombia.
Alex Popp looked to have saved Germany’s blushes when she dispatched her 89th-minute penalty to cancel out Linda Caicedo’s opener.
However, a late set piece proved to be Germany’s undoing as Manuela Vanegas headed home from a corner kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time to condemn Germany to their first defeat in the Women’s World Cup group stage since 1995 when they were beaten by Sweden.
Having reached the knockout rounds in all previous eight editions of the Women’s World Cup, they still have some work to do if they are to maintain that impressive record.
Due to their significant goal difference advantage over third-placed Morocco, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side will advance to the last-16 if they match the North African side’s result in the group’s other game against Colombia.
South Korea Women Women’s World Cup form:
LL
Germany Women Women’s World Cup form:
WL
We say: South Korea Women 0-3 Germany Women
Germany would have been wounded by the surprise defeat to Colombia, but with a number of leaders and top quality talent in the side, we think they will use Sunday’s result as a motivation to go out and claim a comfortable win against South Korea.