South Korea vs Morocco Odds, Pick | Women’s World Cup Preview
Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images. Pictured: Ghizlane Chebbak & Hanane Ait El Haj (Morocco)
South Korea vs Morocco Odds
| South Korea Odds | -150 |
| Morocco Odds | +450 |
| Draw | +260 |
| Over/Under | 2.5 (+130/ -167) |
| Both Teams to Score (Yes/No) | (+125/ -175) |
| Odds via bet365. Get up-to-the-minute World Cup odds here. | |
South Korea and Morocco meet in the second round of the group stage, with both needing three points for any chance at survival.
South Korea were throughly dominated by Colombia and really struggled to play out from the back through their pressure. They had some great results in the lead up to this World Cup, but it'll all be for nothing if they don't get a result in this match.
Morocco got dismantled by Germany, losing 6-0. However, they had to expect that they weren't going to pick up any points against Germany, so now they need results against South Korea and Colombia to have any shot of making the Round of 16.
South Korea
South Korea put up a dud of a performance against Colombia. They really succumbed to Colombia's high pressing and weren't able to play out of the back. They consistently kept turning the ball over in their own final third, leading to a number of chances.
Eventually, the 2-0 scoreline was deserved.
South Korea play a style that sets up perfectly for the teams they're going to be facing. It’s a very direct one or two touch football with a lot of fluidity in the attack, but as we saw in the first match, if you press them effectively, they crumble.
They can also play a slow build up style when they're facing an inferior side, or are perfectly fine not having the ball and looking to hit teams on the counter. It'll be interesting to see if they hold a majority of the possession in this match.
Out of possession, they press very intensely — trying to win the ball back — and will also play a very high line. It wasn't very successful against Colombia, but it did work throughout the AFC Asian Cup on their way to the final, notching a draw with Japan and win over Australia along the way.
In terms of talent, most of the South Korean roster is playing domestically, with a few players playing abroad in the WSL and Liga F.
The key player for them is without a doubt Lee Geum-min, who didn’t put up good xG or xAssist numbers for Brighton this season in the WSL but is a ball progression machine, averaging 4.5 progressive passes per 90 minutes (99th percentile for the WSL).
Morocco
Morocco was always going to lose to Germany in their opening match and the underlying metrics showed that it wasn't as bad as it seemed — Germany scored their six goals off of 2.4 expected goals.
🇩🇪 Germany 6-0 Morocco 🇲🇦
Germany start their 2023 #FIFAWWC campaign in style, with this 6-0 thrashing of Morocco.
Alex Popp grabbed herself two goals – how many more will she get at this tournament? pic.twitter.com/gY6CXchn2e
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) July 24, 2023
Morocco favors a 4-2-3-1 and were really dominant throughout the Africa Cup of Nations. They controlled a lot of possession, had a really high number of box entries and their xG per match was one of the best in the tournament.
Even though they won’t have as much of the ball as they had during that tournament, they play a style that can be successful.
Morocco likes to play long balls from the center backs up to their main striker Rosella Ayane, who plays for Tottenham in the WSL.
They also tend do something that can really confuse opposing defenses that want to key in on Ayane, who's clearly their best attacker. She, along with the two wingers, are versatile, so they often change their positioning throughout the match in case opposing defenses want to try and play woman-to-woman.
Morocco is also one of the most efficient set-piece teams in the World Cup, so they tick a lot of boxes as an underdog here against South Korea.
South Korea vs Morocco Pick
South Korea were really poor in their opening match, only creating 0.3 xG against an uber-aggressive Colombian defense. Even though they had good results in the lead up to this World Cup, being this big of a favorite is a little crazy after their performance against Colombia.
Morocco fits the profile of a successful underdog in a tournament like this, as they're able to play in transition, play a lot of long balls and be efficient on set pieces.
So, I like the value on Morocco +1 at -148 (BetRivers).
The Pick: Morocco +1 (-148)
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