After a humiliating 0-8 thrashing against USA in their FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 opener, hosts India put a much better show before going 0-3 down to Morocco in their second match at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday. The Indians created few chances in the first half but failed to convert them.
India 0-3 Morocco
A deserved win for Morocco. India had their chance late on to get their first goal of the tournament, but that was saved. A good first half but it unravelled a bit in the second. For the record, that means India are out of reckoning for quarterfinals. The match against Brazil will be their last in the tournament.
Morocco too had their chances but Melody Chanu was rock solid under the bar to go into the break at 0-0. Morocco turned the tables in the second half as they took the lead from a El Madani Doha penalty. Yasmine Zouhir and Djennah Cherif added the second and third on 61 and 91 minutes respectively to lodge full points in the tournament.
The early concession of a penalty in the second half and a mistake from the goalkeeper led to Morocco taking a decisive 2-0 lead. They increased that lead to 3-0 just before the full-time whistle blew. Cherif is played a wonderful through ball between two Indian players. Cherif timed her run well to latch on to the ball. Melody came off her line but Cherif kept her cool to slot the ball past Melody inside the net.
With USA drawing against Brazil in another Group A encounter earlier in the day, both India and Morocco are out of quarterfinal contention. India will play Brazil in their final group match on October 17. A better performance, but the hope for a goal or a point didn’t come true for India. A massive effort will be needed against Brazil on Monday, who not only will be eyeing a win but also a big win to make up the goal difference with USA.
