Germany Women will look to bounce back from a surprise defeat to Colombia when they face South Korea Women in the final group game of the Women's World Cup 2023.

The Euro 2022 finalists head into Thursday's encounter in second position, while South Korea are languishing at the bottom of the group after losing their opening two games.

Match preview

After beginning the tournament with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Colombia, South Korea would have been looking for a positive response when they faced Morocco on Matchday Two.

Unfortunately for Colin Bell's side, they got off to a disastrous start as Ibtissam Jraidi struck in the sixth minute to give Morocco an early lead.

Despite experiencing over 60% possession, South Korea could not register a shot on target, ensuring that they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Having failed to pick up a point in their opening two games, South Korea require a miracle to reach the knockout rounds, as they need to beat Germany by a five-goal margin and hope Morocco lose to Colombia.

While it is highly likely that South Korea will be eliminated on Thursday, they will still be determined to claim a positive result, having lost their last six games at the Women's World Cup since beating Spain 2-1 in the 2015 tournament.

Germany flew out of the starting blocks with a commanding 6-0 win against Morocco in their opening game, but any momentum gained from that win was halted by a shock defeat to Colombia.

Alex Popp looked to have saved Germany's blushes when she dispatched her 89th-minute penalty to cancel out Linda Caicedo's opener.

However, a late set piece proved to be Germany's undoing as Manuela Vanegas headed home from a corner kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time to condemn Germany to their first defeat in the Women's World Cup group stage since 1995 when they were beaten by Sweden.

Having reached the knockout rounds in all previous eight editions of the Women's World Cup, they still have some work to do if they are to maintain that impressive record.

Due to their significant goal difference advantage over third-placed Morocco, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's side will advance to the last 16 if they match the North African side's result in the group's other game against Colombia.

Team News

South Korea are expected to be without the services of Lim Seon-joo, who missed the defeat to Morocco through injury.

After being brought into the lineup on Sunday, experienced goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi is expected to retain her place between the posts.

Choe Yu-ri dropped out of the South Korean side for Matchday Two, but she is likely to return to the starting XI for the final group game.

As for Germany, Marina Hegering could make her first appearance of the tournament after missing the opening two games with an injury issue.

The Wolfsburg defender is likely to replace Eintracht Frankfurt's Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh, who picked up an injury in Sunday's contest.

Felicitas Rauch, who missed the defeat to Colombia, has returned to light training, but Thursday's encounter will come too soon for the full-back.

South Korea Women possible starting lineup:
Jung-mi; Hye-ri, Hye-ji, Seo-yeon; Hyo-joo, Geum-min, So-Yun, So-Hyun, Sel-gi; Yu-ri, Eun-sun

Germany Women possible starting lineup:
Frohms; Huth, Hendrich, Hegering, Hagel; Oberdorf, Dabritz; Brand, Magull, Buhl; Popp

We say: South Korea Women 0-3 Germany Women

Germany would have been wounded by the surprise defeat to Colombia, but with a number of leaders and top quality talent in the side, we think that they will use Sunday's result as motivation to go out and claim a comfortable win against South Korea.

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