Women’s World Cup: On to the Semis

By: Jan | September 24th, 2007

It was quarter final time in China this weekend. Germany played against North Korea on Saturday and, for a change, I managed to watch the match live. Initially I wasn’t too sure whether I liked the draw. I thought that Sweden or even the USA might have been more predictable at least. And the first half somewhat confirmed my doubts. North Korea played with great pace and their solid passing usually lead them deep into Germany’s half. Overall they were the better and more dominant team for the first 45 minutes. Germany again had problems with their build up play, with lots of passes going nowhere or players not being able to read the other player’s idea. They give up possession way too easily for my taste. North Korea on the other hand wasn’t making much of their dominance and failed to create chances that could really threaten Nadine Angerer in goal. And as the match toddled towards the 45th minute, Kerstin Garefrekes scored the first goal following a fine individual effort, keeping three Korean defenders at bay and then elegantly placing the ball in the upper left corner of the goal. North Korea tried their best to come back into the game and after 60 minutes were really pressing for the equaliser. Nadine Angerer produced a superb safe to protect Germany’s slim lead and just minutes later a great little team effort between Birgit Prinz and Renate Lingor made it 2-0 for Germany. Annike Krahn added a third rather flukey goal following a corner kick and unsurprisingly Germany had the match pretty much under control by then. Though the North Koreans have to be applauded for never giving up and always trying to at least score a consolation goal. This sets up a semi final clash with Norway (ranked 4th in the world), who Germany were lucky to hold to a draw in a pre-tournament friendly. USA will take on Brazil to decide the second finalist. Whether Germany moves on to the final or not, the team can at least take home three World Cup records already. The 11-0 thrashing of Argentina was the highest score of a Women’s World Cup game. Birgit Prinz became the all time leading goalscorer in Women’s World Cup history. No other team had yet produced four consecutive clean sheets during a tournament.