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Morocco’s Under 17 Women’s team suffered their second defeat in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, losing to Italy 3–1 in their Group A second fixture. Despite the loss, their hopes of advancing to the Round of 16 are still alive, even as this result follows a 0–3 defeat at the hands of Brazil in the opening match.
Italy set the pace early on and quickly took command of the game. The Italian U17 Women were clinical in front of goal, scoring 3 times before the break. Morocco struggled at first but showed some improvement towards the end of the first half with a few promising attacks.
Just before the whistle went for the break, a massive turning point was almost handed over to the Moroccans, when their fans and team alike thought they had got a red card for the Italian keeper Robionni but thankfully for the Italian side the decision got overturned and the keeper got to stay on.
A bit of a spark in the second half
Despite being 3 goals down Morocco really dug deep in the second half and just went for it. The team pressurised higher up the pitch, played with a lot more confidence and were finally rewarded in the 81st minute when Dounia El Mesmoudi scored Morocco’s first ever goal on home soil in the World Cup. The crowd just went wild and lifted the whole teams morale and energy levels.
Now Morocco head to their final group stage match against Costa Rica on Friday, 24th of October. They still have a chance to qualify for the Round of 16 if they perform well and rank among the four best third-placed teams across all groups. So it will be a great chance for the young Lionesses to go out and get their first ever World Cup win.
It may not have been what they were hoping for the start of the tournament but scoring that all important first goal as well as battling like they have in just the second half out marks a big step forward for Women’s football in Morocco.
