2023 World Cup: Morocco Women vs Colombia Women – Match preview, live stream, kick-off time, prediction, team news, lineups
Thursday sees the final games of the group stages of the 2023 Women’s World Cup as Morocco face Colombia at 11:00 BST – whilst the other Group H game Germany vs South Korea kicks off at the same time.
Colombia are at the top of Group H with six points to their name, while Morocco sit in third position with three points.
Match Preview
Morocco World Cup campaign
In their first-ever World Cup appearance Morocco endured a tough 6-0 thrashing by Germany in the opening game of their World Cup campaign.
But the team showed tremendous character and bounced back to claim a remarkable victory over South Korea.
Ibtissam Jraidi scored in the sixth minute, giving Morocco the lead, and they successfully held off South Korea’s attacks throughout the game, clinching their first-ever victory at the Women’s World Cup.
Despite being the second-lowest-ranked team in the tournament, Morocco heads into the final round of group games with a chance to progress to the last-16.
To secure a spot in the knockout rounds, the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations finalists must outperform Germany’s result due to the latter’s superior goal difference.
Colombia World Cup campaign
After starting the tournament with a convincing 2-0 win over South Korea, Colombia faced Germany on Sunday as the clear underdogs.
Nevertheless, Colombia demonstrated their quality by taking the lead in the 52nd minute through Linda Caicedo, who found space and delivered an unstoppable strike into the top corner.
Their hopes of a surprising victory seemed to fade when Catalina Perez brought down Lena Oberdorf in the box, leading to a penalty that Alex Popp converted to equalise.
However, there was one final moment of drama as Real Sociedad’s Manuela Vanegas scored a 97th-minute winner, securing a historic victory and propelling her country to the top of Group H.
Colombia has almost secured a spot in the last-16, thanks to their significant goal-difference advantage over Morocco. They will finish atop the group if they avoid defeat on Thursday.
Team News
Nouhaila Ben Zina is set to start in central defence alongside Nesrryne El Chad, while Hanane Ait El Haj and Zineb Redouani will continue to operate as the two full-backs.
Buoyed from scoring the winner against South Korea, Jraidi will offer one of Morocco’s main goal threats when she leads the line against Colombia.
As for Colombia, central defender Jorelyn Carabali is a doubt after being stretchered off in stoppage time of Sunday’s win.
If Carabali is unable to feature, Nelson Abadia could bring Monica Ramos into the side to partner Daniela Arias in central defence.
Leicy Santos dropped down to the bench against Germany, but the Atletico Madrid midfielder could return to the starting lineup on Thursday.
Morocco Women possible starting lineup:
Errmichi; Ait El Haj, Ben Zina, El Chad, Redouani; Ouzraoui, Nakkach, Chebbak, Tagnaout; Amani; Jraidi
Colombia Women possible starting lineup:
Perez; C. Arias, Ramos, D. Arias, Vanegas; Bedoya, Montoya; Andrade, Usme, Caicedo; Ramirez
WTX Sports predicts Colombia 2-0 Morocco
We expect Colombia to take all three points from this game with relative ease.