Tottenham Women star Rosella Ayane plays as Morocco thrashed by Germany at World Cup
Tottenham Women star Rosella Ayane endured a difficult Women’s World Cup opener with Morocco.
Ayane started and completed 90 minutes for her nation as Morocco lost their Group H opener 6-0 to last summer’s European Championship runners-up, Germany.
It appeared as though this match was going to be a mismatch from the first whistle with the Germans ranked second in the FIFA Women’s rankings and Morocco all the way down in 72nd.
With 17th-placed South Korea and 25th-placed Colombia also in their group, qualification for the knockout stages was always a long shot for the African nation, and the heavy defeat certainly hasn’t made things any easier.
Morocco are making their Women’s World Cup debut at this year’s tournament and in doing so are the first Arab nation to appear in the competition. They reached the tournament by finishing as runners-up during the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
However, any slim chance they had of repeating the history their male counterparts made in December, when they became the first African side to reach a men’s World Cup semi-final, now seems near impossible.
Only Zambia have entered the tournament as a lower-ranked side than the Atlas Lionesses and it certainly looked that way on the pitch against Germany. Ayane’s side managed just six shots and only had 26 per cent of the ball throughout the match.
The 27-year-old also struggled to make an impact in the match herself. She was successful with just two of her five dribble attempts, had only 31 touches of the ball and gave it away 11 times (Sofascore). She completed 15 out of her 18 attempted passes, though none of them were key passes, and won only 30 per cent of her ground duels, three out of 10.
What would have been most frustrating for the forward is the fact that she didn’t manage to have a shot and she will be hoping to get more involved when Morocco take on South Korea on 30 July.
While any idea of qualification is far-fetched, the Moroccans will want to at least leave Australia and New Zealand with their heads held high, and if they can get any points on the board after this thrashing, that will restore some pride.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs’ other stars at the Women’s World Cup have gotten off to much better starts.