Mercedes Diz scores Argentina's first-ever U-17 World Cup goal, but Germany fight back to win 2-1 in Rabat

Argentina's women's under-17 side now have their first goal and their first match at a World Cup. What they could not get was a first point: on Saturday, in the category's historic debut, Germany beat them 2-1 at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Rabat on matchday one of Group A at the U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco. Mercedes Diz opened the scoring in the 9th minute, but Johanna Hebben and Mia Kuhn turned the game around for the European champions.

Nine minutes of history

Christian Meloni's team pressed high from the first whistle and made life difficult for the German back line. The first clear chance fell to Violeta Álvarez, who collected a bouncing ball on the edge of the box and sent her shot just past the right post. The reward came soon after: Julieta Aguilar won the ball inside the German area and set up Diz, the River Plate forward from Navarro, who finished past the onrushing goalkeeper Mirja Kropp to make it 1-0.

Germany, who arrived in Morocco as newly crowned Under-17 European champions after beating France 1-0 in May's final in Belfast, found the equaliser in the 25th minute through their captain, Johanna Hebben.

The red card that changed the match

Argentina's hardest blow came before the break. Defender Oriana Bralo, a Boca Juniors player, had been booked in the 39th minute and picked up a second yellow in the 42nd, leaving La Albiceleste to play almost the entire second half with ten. German head coach Sabine Loderer went to her bench at half-time and one of the substitutes, Mia Kuhn, scored the decisive 2-1 in the 52nd minute.

Meloni looked for answers with his changes: Brunella Pilati replaced Macarena Torre on 55 minutes, Renata Barletta and Oriana Gómez came on for Álvarez and Josefina Galarza on 69, and Agustina Leguizamón and Aitana Díaz replaced Julia Vinhas and Mia Gamarra on 73. Argentina kept going and Diz had a shot in stoppage time, but the score did not change.

Line-ups

• Germany (4-2-3-1): Kropp; Hell, Dürr, Ernst, Dafinger, Itgenshorst, Hebben, Giesen, Martens, Kleemann, Choisy. Coach: Sabine Loderer.
• Argentina (4-4-2): Virga; Lagartera, Vinhas, Bralo, Gamarra, Torre, Maldonado, Aguilar, Galarza, Diz, Álvarez. Coach: Christian Meloni.

What comes next for La Albiceleste

Argentina reached this World Cup for the first time in their history after finishing runners-up at the South American U-17 Championship in Paraguay, where they lost the final 3-2 to Brazil in Asunción. The squad is largely home-based, with six River Plate players and four from Boca Juniors, and is captained by Agustina Maldonado, the River midfielder from La Pampa who also wore the armband at the U-20 World Cup in Poland in September.

The tournament brings together 24 teams in six groups of four: the top two in each group and the four best third-placed sides advance to the round of 16, so the defeat does not knock Argentina out of anything. La Albiceleste play again on Tuesday 20 October at 12:00 (Argentina time) against New Zealand and close the group stage on Friday 23 October at 14:00 against hosts Morocco, who open their campaign later on Saturday against New Zealand. In Group B, defending champions North Korea thrashed Puerto Rico 6-0. Argentina's matches are shown on TV Pública and DSports; our preview of the debut is in this BRAVA story.

Sources: FIFA (match centre), AFA (official site), DFB (official site), Infobae, DeporTV, El Navarrero, La Arena, Agência Brasil, RTP.