Colombia strike late to upset Germany 2-1 in Sydney stunner at Women’s World Cup

SYDNEY – Manuela Vanegas headed a stoppage-time winner to help Colombia claim the biggest upset of the Women’s World Cup as they beat Germany 2-1 just when the two-time world champions thought they had salvaged a point in a thrilling clash on Sunday.

The left-back said: “Germany are a world power, that’s a reality, but Colombia have been making great strides and today Colombia is a world power.”

The Real Sociedad defender powered the ball home from a corner eight minutes after German striker Alexandra Popp had converted a penalty to cancel out a stunning strike from Colombian teenager Linda Caicedo at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Caicedo, who gave her team a fright by collapsing in training on Thursday, had delighted the massed ranks of her compatriots in the 40,499 crowd with a goal of the highest quality in the 52nd minute.

“Obviously, you need to be happy and euphoric because this is a great win for the whole country and we’ve been feeling this,” said Colombia assistant coach Angelo Marsiglia.

“But look, the game and the tournament still continues, so we’ll go step by step.”

He added: “We knew this would be a very physical match because Germany would be attacking on the flanks. You know, the six goals that they scored against Morocco were mainly from the flank, so we had to block them.

“Latin America has great players and great technique but the European football is more vertical and so we had to pay attention to that aerial play.

“The team were on top of their game, especially against a big powerhouse such as Germany are in women’s football.”

The 25th-ranked Colombians now need only to avoid a heavy defeat to Morocco in their final Group H match on Thursday to reach the last 16, while world No. 2 Germany are still likely to progress if they beat South Korea in their last fixture.

Morocco got their maiden World Cup win with a 1-0 triumph over South Korea in Sunday’s early match.

Said Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg: “It just mustn’t happen that in literally the last minute you allow the opponent to transition into attack. We need to be smarter than that.”

She added: “We needed to focus on ending the game 1-1 but I think my team rather tried to win 2-1. We need to think of the result. Because of our goal difference, with a draw we would have still been first (in the group) which would have been good for us mentally.

“It’s up to us how we play and it’s our job to do that. I’m really not worried that we won’t make it through.”

The Colombians tore into the match from the kick-off and the Germans looked rattled not only by their aggression but also by the deafening noise of their yellow-shirted fans.

Showing no sign of the nerves that her coach said were behind her collapse on Thursday, Caicedo, 18, gathered the ball on the left edge of the box seven minutes after the break, cut back between two defenders and curled it into the top-right corner.

The stadium exploded as the 1.61m forward celebrated her second goal at the tournament, having become the youngest player to score in this World Cup with a similar effort in the 2-0 opening win over South Korea.

Germany continued to spurn what chances they created but looked to have snatched a draw when, with two minutes left on the clock, Lena Oberdorf was brought down in the box by goalkeeper Catalina Perez and Popp stepped up to thump the ball into the net.

That was until Vanegas’ 97th-minute intervention.

Meanwhile, coach Jitka Klimkova said New Zealand can be proud of their campaign on home soil despite their group-stage exit, after a goal-less draw with Switzerland on Sunday ended their hopes.

New Zealand had never won a World Cup game in their previous five appearances. They began with a memorable 1-0 upset of Norway in Group A but a shock 1-0 defeat by the Philippines tempered expectations.

The Football Ferns again missed out on a place in the last 16, however, after finishing third in Group A with four points – their best-ever showing at a World Cup. Despite that, they are the first hosts to exit at the group stage.

Klimkova said: “When I saw the fans around, the sold-out stadiums and the connection that we had with New Zealand... that’s what we were aiming for.

“We were very close to achieving a historic result... I’m sure we inspired a lot of young girls and boys to start loving and playing football.

“I would say it’s been a successful tournament, even if we didn’t get out of the group.”

Making it to the last 16 in their place, alongside group winners Switzerland, are Norway, who also finished on four points but with a better goal difference after a 6-0 mauling of the Filipinas at Eden Park.

Sophie Roman Haug bagged a hat-trick, with Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten also scoring for the 1995 champions. The other goal came via an Alicia Barker own goal. Philippines defender Sofia Harrison saw red in the 67th minute. REUTERS, AFP