Amid a day of chaos at the Women's World Cup, few results were more surprising that Colombia's 2-1 win over Germany. Both teams had won their first group match, meaning that a win in Sydney would put them firmly in control of Group H. While Colombia, ranked #25 in the world, is one of the best teams in South America and was coming off a 2-0 win over South Korea, it was hard to envision them coming away with a win against the #2 team in the world.
However, that's exactly what happened. Colombia took the lead in the 52nd minute thanks to 18-year-old superstar Linda Caicedo. The South American defense held firm right up until the dying moments of regular time. Catalina Pérez gave up a costly penalty in the 89th minute. With Alexandra Popp converting, it looked like a historic moment had been snatched from Colombia at the last possible second. However, seven minutes into stoppage time, Manuela Vanegas was able to connect with a Leicy Santos cross to give Las Cafeteras arguably their biggest win of all time.
Colombia Win Sets Up Fascinating Final Day
Group H will be decided on August 3 when Colombia takes on Morocco and Germany faces South Korea. Colombia is all but qualified for the Round of 16 as it would take a 4-goal loss to see them fail to qualify. However, Morocco's historic 1-0 win over South Korea has made the group very interesting. The match against South Korea is now a must-win match for Germany. They are level on points with Morocco but hold a massive lead in goal difference. However, that means nothing if they can't beat the ailing South Koreans and Morocco is able to find a way past Colombia. In all likelihood, Colombia will win the group and Germany will finish second. However, today's results clearly show that anything is possible in this tournament.
Elsewhere, co-hosts New Zealand exited the tournament after the worst luck possible. They drew 0-0 with Switzerland, finishing the group stage on 4 points and a goal difference of zero. They needed Norway to beat the Philippines 1-0 to progress to the next round. Instead, the Norwegians, who have looked like a shadow of themselves all tournament, beat the Asian representatives 6-0 to leapfrog New Zealand and claim the runner-up spot in the group.
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