Germany shockingly knocked out of the Women's World Cup

Lindsey Horan has rejected criticism of how the US women’s soccer team has been performing at the Women’s World Cup, labeling it as “noise.”

The US Women’s National Team (USWNT) drew 0-0 with Portugal on Tuesday, a result that confirmed the four-time world champion as runner-up in Group E, but not before the Americans came painfully close to exiting the tournament when Portugal substitute Ana Capeta hit the post in the dying moments of the game.

“It’s noise. Sometimes, you know, you hear it, you see it, and sometimes it’s hard to get away from it,” USWNT co-captain Horan told a media conference on Thursday in response to a question about criticism from pundits and fans.

One of those pundits was two-time World Cup winner and former USWNT player Carli Lloyd who quipped on the FOX broadcast that “the player of the match was that post” – a reference to Portugal coming close to a famous win late on – adding that her former teammates are “lucky to not be going home right now.”

“You guys are all watching us. Everyone in the world gets to have their opinion. And it’s the World Cup, you know, it’s the biggest stage,” added Horan as she looked ahead to the team’s last-16 knockout match against Sweden on Sunday.

“We’re playing for these big matches. We’re playing for these big moments, these pressure cookers. And that’s what we want to be a part of. And being the US national team, we’re always going to have that. You guys always want to talk about us and we’re going to take that pressure,” she added.

“We’re going to go with it, but we’re going to focus on ourselves and look at everything internally and try to keep the noise out as much as possible.”

Forward Lynn Williams added: “We are not panicking. We have made it to the round of 16. I think that we haven’t played our best soccer yet, which is the most exciting part for us. We are a team that are going to battle.”

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Germany captain Alexandra Popp looked heartbroken at the full-time whistle as she tried to comprehend her team crashing out of the Women’s World Cup at the group stage for the first time ever.

The striker scored the equalizer and came so close to finding the winner, having one goal ruled out for offside.

Despite the defeat, Popp was named Player of the Match, but such an award came as little consolation to the dejected 32-year-old.

“It’s hard to say [what was missing]. We needed one more goal, but we didn’t [find it].”

Germany has long been one of the dominant sides in women's football, but today marks the first time ever that the team has failed to reach the knockout stages of a Women's World Cup.

Needless to say, the German players were far from their best during their 1-1 draw against South Korea.

"They looked rattled -- they didn’t look like the calm, collected Germany that knew they were the world No. 2 that could just go out and play," former New Zealand captain Rebecca Smith, who spent four years playing in Germany with Wolfsburg, told CNN Sport's Patrick Snell.

"They really looked like they were forcing things, they weren’t playing their game."

Despite pushing for a winner in the second half -- striker Alexandra Popp hit the bar and also had a goal ruled out for offside -- Germany endured an immensely frustrating evening against South Korea in Brisbane.

The result sees Morocco and Colombia both progress to the knockout stages ahead of the two-time champion -- just one of the many shocks this tournament has delivered so far.

“This tournament is continually surprising all of us -- it’s madness," said Smith.

Germany crashing out from the Women's World Cup is "one of the saddest moments" of Lena Oberdorf's life, the midfielder said after the 1-1 draw against South Korea and subsequent elimination from the competition.

Oberdorf played the full 90 minutes as Germany strived for the goal which would have seen it through to the next phase, but it wasn't to be for the two-time world champion.

As a result of Morocco's 1-0 victory against Colombia, Germany was eliminated from the Women's World Cup at the group stage for the first time in its history.

But Oberdorf says this is a low point from which the team can grow.

"We didn’t bring the quality on the pitch today and also the last game that we wanted to show," she told reporters afterwards.

"We didn’t show the football that we wanted to show and, obviously, it's one of the saddest moments of my life, but I think we will grow with that and we will analyze it and then we have to ask ourselves what the matter was and we have to talk about it."

With Morocco's victory wrapped up but the Germany vs South Korea game still going on, Moroccan players took to the field to keep track of the match in Brisbane and the permutations that came with it.

They huddled around phones, furiously refreshing to seek any update on whether or not their World Cup journey had come to an end... or was continuing on in spectacular fashion.

And when the final whistle blew in Brisbane, the celebrations in Perth could begin, with those phones coming in handy to call friends, family and whoever else as they chose to bask in the glory of their historic achievement.

Tears, joy, passion... we've had it all at this World Cup so far!

Morocco's result was a groundbreaking win for more than just the nation itself. It continued the success of the African continent at this year's tournament.

First, Nigeria booked its spot in the last 16. Then, South Africa scored a stunning 92nd-minute winner to sneak into the next round.

And now, Morocco showed resilience to sneak into the knockout stages in its debut tournament.

As a result, it means that three African teams have now qualified for the knockout stages of a Women's World Cup for the first time ever – the previous best was two in 2019 when Nigeria and Cameroon made it to the stage.

Like its men's equivalent at Qatar 2022, this Morocco team is blazing a trail and providing joy for a nation.

This truly has been a World Cup of upsets.

Three countries ranked inside the top 10 have now been eliminated before the knockout stages as Germany makes an early exit alongside Canada and Brazil.

And let's not forget how close the US came to getting knocked out of the competition...

Instead, South Africa, Morocco and Jamaica will all make their debuts in the final 16. Morocco was ranked a lowly 72nd in the world ahead of the tournament, the second-lowest behind Zambia at No. 77.

This World Cup has had some incredible drama so far and no doubt there will be more to come in the knockout stages.

Full-time in Brisbane and the game ends 1-1.

Germany can't find an all-important winning goal and is now eliminated from the Women's World Cup before the knockout stages for the first time ever.

That was an effective and organized performance from South Korea, frustrating Germany after getting an early goal.

As the match unfolded, on the sidelines, a noisy South Korean crowd willed their side to step up to meet the challenge despite being bottom of the leaderboard.

Rows of fans dressed in red waved inflatable batons and chanted in time with a drum.

German fans looked crushed at the final whistle, and the flags they’d been waving every time their team seemed close to pulling ahead in the second half were tightly wound for the journey home.

Some of the German players were red-eyed in the mixed zone — seemingly unable to explain why they lost despite having had many more attempts at goal.

Some fans were not at the game to support South Korea or Germany, but to hope the Red Devils were able to prevent Germany from advancing to the knockouts.

This is surely the biggest shock of the tournament so far: a two-time champion and the world's second-ranked team heading home.

Instead, Colombia and Morocco go through from Group H. Who would have predicted that two weeks ago, or indeed after Germany's 6-0 win against Morocco?

What a World Cup!

It's all over! Morocco holds on for the 1-0 victory over Colombia, meaning Germany needs to find a late goal to avoid elimination from the tournament.

Anissa Lahmari's first-half penalty proved decisive and some second-half grit saw to a historic victory.