South Korea likely out of Women’s World Cup with second straight group stage loss
Expect a big win over favorite Germany and a loss to Morocco
The South Korean women’s soccer team is likely to be eliminated from the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand 2023. They will need a five-goal win in the third leg and for Colombia to beat Morocco if they are to miraculously reach the round of 16.
Colin Bell’s women’s soccer team lost their second Group H match against Morocco 0-1 on Sept. 30. It was the second straight defeat for South Korea (2W, 0L), who lost their first game against Colombia 0-2 on Sept. 25.
South Korea dropped to fourth from last in Group H. Colombia leads the group with six points, followed by Germany and Morocco, who are tied for second with three points but have a better goal difference.
They need to finish in the top two in the group to reach the round of 16. In order to reach the round of 16, South Korea will need to beat Germany by at least five goals in the third leg on March 3. A 5-0 win over Germany would equalize the score at three points, giving South Korea a goal differential of +2 and Germany a goal differential of 0, which would put South Korea in second place in the group.
On the other hand, if South Korea wins by four goals, Germany will advance to the round of 16. Germany is ahead on goal difference after a 6-0 win over Morocco in the first round. A 4-0 win for South Korea would equalize their goal differential with Germany’s, in which case Germany, at +7, would overtake South Korea, at +4, on goal differential.
However, such a result is virtually impossible, as Germany, who dropped to second place in the group after an unexpected loss to Colombia, is unlikely to slack off against South Korea.
Even if South Korea beats Germany by more than five goals, their hopes of advancing to the round of 16 will be dashed if Morocco beats Colombia in the third round or both teams tie. Morocco needs just one more point to move past South Korea with four points. Even if South Korea beats Germany, they can only get three points.
Both games of the third round will take place at the same time next month at 7 p.m. KST. 고스톱 This will likely be South Korea’s last game at the World Cup.