The South Korean women’s soccer team couldn’t find the back of the net against Morocco in a game they needed to win.
South Korea lost 0-1 to Morocco in their second Group H match at the Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, Australia, on Tuesday (June 30). South Korea conceded a goal in the sixth minute to Iptissam Zaidi. The loss, their second in a row, drops South Korea to fourth place in the group.
U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Colleen Bell made a few changes to the offense after a scoreless first leg. Instead of Choi Yoo-ri, who has been a regular starter of late, Bell brought on veteran long striker Park Eun-sun. It was a move that Bell prepared a year in advance of the tournament in order to compete on a world stage full of physically fit players. Park, who was called up to the national team last year after a seven-year absence, has steadily worked her way into the team’s A squad, scoring three goals in two exhibition matches against Zambia in April.
On the day, Park actively fulfilled her role as a post player. She used her height to dominate possession. She won 10 aerial battles with Moroccan players during her 68 minutes of play, according to soccer statistics site Hooscore.com. She also threatened the opposition goal herself. In the 25th minute, she headed home a cross from Ji So-yeon. However, the shot was not on target.
While Park Eun-sun was up front, the Korean bench tried to attack by switching up their attackers. At halftime, Moon Mi-ra and Choi Yuri were introduced in place of Son Hwa-yeon and Chu Hyo-joo. In the 23rd minute, Park Eun-sun was brought off and Jeon Eun-ha was brought on; in the 38th minute, Kang Soo removed center back Hong Hye-ji and brought on forward Casey Fair; and the final substitution in the 43rd minute focused on attack. She brought on Chun Garam for Lee Geum-min. 꽁머니
It was an improvement over the second half of the first game against Colombia, when the team didn’t register any shots. As if looking to make up for the 0-6 loss to Germany, Morocco continued to attack and South Korea continued to get shots on goal, but they weren’t sharp. In 14 shots on goal, none were on target.
With back-to-back losses, South Korea’s chances of advancing to the round of 16 are virtually nil. Even if other things go ideally and they finish tied on points with Germany and Morocco, they will need to wake up their dull offense and score a lot of goals and take a goal difference advantage over the favorites. Currently, South Korea has a -3 goal differential after two games without a goal and three conceded. Morocco’s goal differential is -5, while Germany, which has yet to play a second game, is +6.