Germany shows why it's world No. 1 with 10-0 thrashing of Ivory Coast

If Germany wanted to assert itself as the team to beat in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Sunday’s dominance over Ivory Coast was a nice start.

The Germans scored 10 goals on 31 shots to notch the second-most lopsided victory in Women’s World Cup history.

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Germany came into the match as the No. 1 team according to FIFA’s world rankings and left the pitch with few doubters. It should be pointed out that Ivory Coast came into the game ranked 67th in the world, making this contests the biggest rankings discrepancy between opponents in Women’s World Cup history.

Still, Germany dominated the match the way a No. 1 should dominated an inferior foe. Its first score came in the 3rd minute when star striker Celia Sasic buried the first of three goals on the day. Her other strikes came in the 15th minute and the 31st minute. It was the fastest hat trick in Women’s World Cup history.

And it wasn’t the only hat trick.

Anja Mittag scored the third, fifth and sixth goals of the game. Sasic and Mittag became the third duo to score hat tricks in the same contest, matching Brazil’s Pretinha and Sissi in 1991, and Germany’s Birgit Prinz and Sandra Smisek in 2007.

Things will get a little tougher Thursday when Germany meets Norway, which also secured three points with a 4-0 win against Thailand. The Germany-Norway game should determine the first and second-place finishers in Group B.

The winner of Group B will play one of the third-place teams from groups A, C or D. The second-place finisher in Group B likely will have a knockout round date with either France or England, teams that are ranked Nos. 3 and 6 respectively.

Health might have been the only concern for Germany on Saunday. In the second half, Ivory Coast players started to take out their frustrations on German ankles. The Ivory Coast committed 29 fouls and was assessed six yellow cards.

Despite this loss, the Ivory Coast isn’t out of the tournament just yet. It plays Thailand in the second group stage match and a win in that contest could help secure a spot as one of the four third-place teams that goes on to the knockout rounds.

But it’s hard to know how the Ivory Coast will rebound. It could build off what was a pretty decent game by goalkeeper Dominique Thiamale, who made several excellent saves. The biggest issue for her was an unorganized defense that had trouble tracking German players off the ball that were making runs into space and ultimately scoring goals.

The Ivory Coast offense used its speed up the flanks to put a little pressure on the Germans, but the crosses into the middle were often poor and easily cleared.

Germany has to feel good about such a dominating win, but this game was an example of just how poor Group B really is. Norway will be a bit of a challenge, but if all goes according to script, the Germans should have little trouble winning their group and coasting into the semifinals.

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Follow Graham Watson on Twitter @Yahoo_Graham