Women's World Cup: Germany beat Ivory Coast in Group B
Monday 8 June 2015 07:50, UK
Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag scored hat-tricks as Germany opened their Women's World Cup campaign with a 10-0 rout of the Ivory Coast in Ottawa.
The Germans, one of the tournament favourites, scored five goals in either half and coach Silvia Neid was able to take off star striker Sasic at half-time after she had completed her treble.
Mittag scored the other two first-half goals and made it 6-0 as the Ivory Coast's decision to try and play a version of the offside trap consistently failed.
Simone Laudehr, Sara Daebritz, Melanie Behringer and Alexandra Popp were also on target for Germany, who came close to beating their tournament record for the biggest winning margin - they beat Argentina 11-0 at the 2007 World Cup.
The scoreline could have been much worse but for some sloppy finishing by Germany, who carved out dozens of chances, and some sharp goalkeeping from Dominique Thiamale.
Victory sets up a likely Group B decider against Norway on Thursday - they had earlier beaten Thailand 4-0 in the first of two games in Canada's capital city.
Veteran skipper Trine Ronning opened for the 1995 World Cup winner winners after quarter of an hour with Isabell Herlovsen claiming a quick-fire double after 29 and 34 minutes.
Ada Hegerberg put the result beyond doubt with a 68th-minute header.
Thailand, ranked 29, had missed a chance for their first World Cup goal after five minutes when Silawan Intamee just missed the target following a blazing run down the flanks from Kanjana Sung-Ngoen.
The hammering could have been more severe but for Thai goalkeeper Waraporn Boonsing doing well to keep out a Maren Mjelde penalty awarded for handball with 15 minutes to go.
"The first game of the tournament is always nerve-wracking," said Norway coach Even Pellerud. "We are happy to have three points, but we have to improve aspects of our play against other teams. We're ready for the game against Germany on Thursday."
