ADELAIDE, Australia — This World Cup finally ran out of its exhilarating supply of commendable dreamers from newfangled women’s soccer countries, the last one exiting Tuesday night when remarkable Morocco staggered into some of those big old waves of European quality. Once the Atlas Lionesses trailed by three after 23 minutes and eventually lost, 4-0, to France, they followed South Africa and Jamaica to round-of-16 exits even as the three had forged some milestones.
They had epitomized a world upgraded in parity, and they had widened the possibilities of little girls watching from their three countries plus overlooked lands all over the globe.
End of carouselThis ninth women’s World Cup, meanwhile, wound up with quarterfinals of both appeal and chalk, with seven of the last eight teams ranked between Nos. 3 and 11 and the other (Colombia) from a middle tier while pretty much acting as if its No. 25 is an insult. No. 3 Sweden will play No. 11 Japan, No. 6 Spain will play No. 9 Netherlands, No. 4 England will play Colombia, and then No. 5 France will play No. 10 Australia in the loudest occasion of the batch.
Away went one wildly successful World Cup debutant (Morocco, No. 72 in the world), two successful countries in only their second bids after struggling in 2019 (No. 43 Jamaica and No. 54 South Africa) and Nigeria (No. 40), a World Cup regular that never looked better than nowadays as it beat Australia, frightened England and joined South Africa and Morocco in the first African trio in a knockout stage. As for Morocco, its players filed off the bus around midnight into a hotel lobby filled with appreciation and delirium in the central business district of Adelaide, with supporters wearing green and red and cheering and playing drums and singing in their honor.
“I would say that it was something that was unthinkable to say that Morocco was going to get to the round of 16,” Morocco Manager Reynald Pedros had said at the stadium, “and to qualify from the group stages, and I actually think this, and this is speaking sincerely: This is worth [the same as] the Moroccan men’s team getting to the semifinal [in a breakthrough at the 2022 World Cup]. Let’s not forget that just three years ago we were just putting together a team in Morocco.”
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“There’s a lot of progress that has been done in a very short time,” France Manager Hervé Renard said of Morocco, knowing more about it than most because he managed Morocco’s men from 2016 to 2019, one of six different national teams he has led. He concluded, “I would take my hat off to the Moroccan team for what they have accomplished.”
Moroccan memories will include a soar to the knockout round in a first turn at this, a deeply respectable recovery from a 6-0 opening loss to Germany toward wins over South Korea and Colombia, and another revelation of the unmistakable size of the Moroccan heart, a seamless second act to when the men became the first African or Arab team to reach the semifinals. They also will include a nightmare of a first-half stretch that a full 13,557 saw on a cold, clear night at Hindmarsh Stadium in Australia’s fifth-largest city. It began in the 15th minute, ended in the 23rd and ended also with Renard calmly touching hands with his staff as would a happy manager at a final whistle.
“Yes, I’m satisfied,” Renard said. “Congratulations to my players. … And I think that the French team showed just how serious we can be.” His team scored four “blinders,” as he put it in raving about the collaborative caliber of the goals, and player of the match Kadidiatou Diani said: “I think it was very important for us to get our head down. We don’t want to fall into what was easy for us. We don’t want to look for the easy solution.”
Wreckage began in the 15th minute, when Sakina Karchaoui and Selma Bacha worked together near the left wing until the latter had sent the former a ball to corral while charging up the left side. Karchaoui kept going and sent a quick, dreamy cross to Diani, the 28-year-old Lyon forward whose easy header straight down the middle became her fourth goal in the past two matches.
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“And then I think the mistakes just piled up,” Pedros said.
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In the 20th minute, here came Diani again, getting a Kenza Dali long ball on the right and setting up shop on the right edge of the box with all the dread that stirs. Defenders hurried to adapt, but Diani merely slid a swell ball through two of them and back to the top of the box to Dali herself, making for a drive that struck the left post and caromed in.
The 23rd minute found another long ball on the right and another arrival of Diani, who this time contested with Nesryne El Chad for the ball near the end line. El Chad tried to figure out what to do, and when she tried a clearance, Diani immediately redirected it to all-time French scorer Eugenie Le Sommer, up higher on the right. Seldom do matches resolve utterly in such a blurry swatch of time, but once Le Sommer banged in her record 91st French goal too easily to avoid a murmuring discomfort in the muted crowd, the great breakthroughs of the 2023 World Cup would stall right here.
Le Sommer would add a second and a 92nd (career) goal, on an easy header in the 70th minute, while Pedros would add words for his players, calling himself “very, very, very proud” to manage them. He noted too many French players unmarked in the box during times of duels for the ball, but he noted something larger.
“I’m going to congratulate them,” he said. “I’m going to thank them. Because what they’ve given us, it’s been an emotional roller coaster to say the least. And we’ll get back to work. We’ll get our heads down. We’ve got our qualifiers for the [2024] Olympic Games to prepare for. And that’s it. We’re going to feed ourselves with our experience from this World Cup.”
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