Germany and Brazil announce arrival with dominant wins

Day five of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup saw the final first round group games as the last six teams started their respective campaigns, including Euro 2022 finalists Germany in Group H and current Copa America champions Brazil in Group F.

There were a cople of big wins, a much more hard fought contest, and now only two teams are still waiting to begin their World Cup tournaments.

Cristiana Girelli proved to be the match-winner as her 87th minute header, which was her 54th goal in 104 international appearancesm sealed a hard-fought 1-0 victory for Italy.

Girelli had started on the bench and scored after being on the pitch for less than five minutes.

Which begs the question – does she start for Italy in their next match against Sweden, or is she best used as a super sub?

Girelli came on as a replacement for Giulia Dragoni, who made history as the youngest player to ever represent Italy in the Women’s World Cup at 16-years-old. She’s earned the nickname ‘Little Messi’ for her skill and technical abilities.

“Giulia is a talent,” Italy’s coach, Milena Bertolini, said. “She was ready both technically and tactically. I think that she did very well considering her age and also playing in such a big stadium in such a big event.”

In what has been the biggest scoreline of the tournament thus far, Germany thrashed debutants Morocco 6-0 to top Group H.

Morocco scored two own goals, and also conceded at the hands of Alexandra Popp, who scored a brace, Klara Buhl, and Lea Schuller.

At 32-years-old, Popp is one of the best strikers in the world, and her ability to seemingly only need one chance makes Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side such a powerhouse.

Germany came into this World Cup as a favourite. Despite having a poor run of results leading up to the competition, early signs show that they are still one of the teams to beat.

What should be even more concerning for the top teams is that key players Marina Hegering and Lena Oberdorf did not participate, due to not being 100% fit. Germany can get even stronger.

For Morocco, they’ll certainly need to dedicate a training session or two on how to more organised and better defend set-pieces.

“As it stands we came across a team which was superior to our own: David and Goliath,” said Morocco coach Reynald Pedros. “They had something that we didn’t. I think it goes without saying we were probably going to lose but I think we didn’t need to lose by six goals.”

A more long-term question that some of the players will be asking themselves is if they should look to make a move to leagues with more competition. A large group of the squad play for AS FAR, Morocco’s most successful club football team – but is that hindering their international performaces?

The good news is that they’ve got their most difficult game of the group on paper out of the way, and they can now focus on better, more unified performances against Colombia and South Korea.

A fan even took to social media to remind the world that Argentina also lost their first match at the men’s World Cup, a tournament they went on to win.

A bit of wishful thinking never hurt anyone, right?

Brazil took full advantage of France dropping points on Sunday, beating Panama 4-0, with a hat-trick for Ary Borges.

It marks the first treble of the tournament, and the first Brazilian player to score three goals on their World Cup debut.

And the one goal, she didn’t score? She assisted in what can only be called true Brazilian flair.

What a team goal that is!

Ary came off in the 76th minute at 4-0 up for the one and only Marta, a true icon of the game making an appearance at a sixth World Cup – the third player to do it at this tournament.

Panama, who like Morocco are also competing in their first ever World Cup, showed some small glimpses of good football, but they just could not keep the ball for long enough to pose any threat.

While their team will surely be dissapointed, it’s a win to see them competing at this level, a place they couldn’t reach before, and the hope that women’s football there, and in all the countries that are making their first appearance continues to thrive.

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