Colombia stun Germany as Norway progress and hosts New Zealand exit
Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Manuela Vanegas headed a stoppage-time winner to give Colombia a 2-1 upset victory over Germany just when the twice world champions thought they had saved a point in a thrilling Women's World Cup clash on Sunday.
The 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 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. We have a very mature team and they know what they want.”
The 27th-ranked Colombians now need only to avoid a heavy defeat to Morocco in their final group H match to reach the last 16, while Germany are still likely to progress if they beat South Korea in their last fixture.
“It's up to us,” said Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. “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.”
Earlier New Zealand and Switzerland played out an underwhelming 0-0 stalemate, sending the co-hosts out of the tournament on goal difference and the Europeans through to the last 16 as group A winners.
Norway's 6-0 thrashing of the Philippines in the other group game in Auckland put them level on four points with New Zealand but second on goal difference.
The results meant New Zealand, who stunned Norway in their opening match before losing to the Philippines in their second, became the first Women's World Cup hosts to exit in the group stage.
Roared on by a near-capacity crowd of 25,947 at the indoor Dunedin Stadium, New Zealand lacked nothing in effort but could not find the goal they needed to progress.
Sophie Roman Haug scored a hat-trick as Norway put a turbulent two weeks behind them and squeaked into the knockout stages with their thrashing of the Philippines at Eden Park.
Winger Caroline Graham Hansen and Guro Reiten also scored to help the 1995 champions finish in second place in group A.
The Philippines, who finished bottom of the group despite their first World Cup win over New Zealand, ended the match with 10 players after defender Sofia Harrison was shown a red card in the 67th minute for a foul on Thea Bjelde.