Morocco makes more Women's World Cup history, reaching knockout rounds with a 1-0 win over Colombia

Morocco is the first Arab or North African nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup and now the first to advance beyond the group stage.

After playing their part by edging Colombia 1-0, Morocco's Atlas Lionesses huddled on the pitch in Perth to follow the end of the Germany-South Korea group-stage finale at the Women's World Cup and hope it remained tied.

“We had the phone and we started praying. We were praying while we were watching the game,” said midfielder Anissa Lahmari, who scored Morocco’s winning goal in first-half stoppage time on Thursday. “Afterwards it was just a complete explosion of joy.”

Cue celebrations, both in Morocco and other parts of the Arab world.

In one of the most unexpected outcomes in the last days of the group stage, Morocco advanced to the knockout round in second place behind Colombia while No. 2-ranked Germany failed to advance for the first time at the tournament.

Morocco is the first Arab or North African nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup and now the first to advance beyond the group stage. That’s something none of the other seven tournament newcomers managed to do.

And it all started with a thumping 6-0 loss to Germany. While the Moroccans recovered to win their next two games, Germany lost 2-1 to Colombia and then was held 1-1 by South Korea when it needed a win in Brisbane to avoid elimination.

“When we had won the match, the most stressful thing was the other match,” Morocco coach Reynald Pedros said.