Group A of the Women’s World Cup gave us two 1-0 victories to both the host country Canada who played China, and the Netherlands who faced New Zealand. Then came Group B.
Fourteen goals were scored in total between the teams in Group B, and ten of them went to Germany. The German women were only one goal short of tying the current record of most goals scored in one match set by themselves in 2007 when they faced Argentina.
It was a disappointing night for the women of the Ivory Coast who collected a total of six yellow cards in the match, and of course the ten goals that went past goal keeper Dominique Thiamale. After the match Ivorian coach Clementine Toure said “We must forget the score from today, forget the negative points, and learn from this. Playing the best team in the world is also the best way to learn for us.”
Five goals in each half for Germany set the tone for the competition with both Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag scoring a hat-trick a piece. Despite all the controversy surrounding the use of artificial turf for the fields, the German women played it to their advantage.
Germany could have ended the game if there was a mercy rule in effect. The amount of shots created by the blitzkrieg of Germany made it look like a hockey game at 31(17). German coach Silvia Neid would love to see her side walk away from every match with this result, but with their next match against Norway in the group stage, it will be a much tighter game.
