This could get ghastly

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This article was published 15/06/2015 (4066 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a demolition of epic proportions. Whatever your cheering interests for this 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup match in Ottawa, you couldn’t deny the urge to cover your eyes.

Germany 10, Ivory Coast 0.

Shots on target, 17-2. Free kicks, 29-12. Ball possession, 61-39 per cent.

The only category Ivory Coast dominated was yellow cards, 6-0.

Is today’s 3 p.m. match at Investors Group Field between Germany, the No. 1-ranked women’s team in the world, and 29th-ranked Thailand headed for the same script?

It’s hard to say based on Sunday’s comments from both sides, overflowing with respect and promises of best efforts.

But it’s worth noting the Germans can’t just take a carefree jog on the pitch. They need the win to clinch top spot in Group B. They share the group lead with four points, but have a decided goals (the tiebreaker) edge against Norway, with whom they drew 1-1 in an earlier match.

Thailand comes to the game with three points after a loss to Norway and a narrow 3-2 win over Ivory Coast.

“I think that Thailand has developed quite well,” Germany’s coach, Silvia Neid, said Sunday when asked if she had considered showing mercy against Ivory Coast, or might do so today. “I watched them in Germany and the Netherlands, they really have developed their game and they deserve to be here in this World Cup.

“Mercy? That’s a funny term. Of course we want to show mercy, but not when you’re in a soccer match in the World Cup. All you’re thinking about is to follow your thread through the game and do well with the ball and seize the opportunities you have and that’s what we want to do. That makes us feel good and in the end, it is about feeling self-confident after the game, go to the next game and be in the Group of 16.”

Neid, who has been the team’s coach since 2005 and has said this will be her final World Cup, admitted post-game in Ottawa she overestimated Ivory Coast.

She was back playing it safe Sunday.

“There is no reason to underestimate the Thai team,” she said. “They are very good soccer players. They are technically very skilled. They have all that it takes to be a good team and we will be very focused going into this match.”

The Germans sloughed off suggestions Sunday they might be feeling the pressure and that there’s a potential distraction of watching today’s other Group B match that will take place at the same time in Moncton between Norway and Ivory Coast.

“That will be no topic at all,” Neid said. “We want to play our match and we want to win it and the other match doesn’t concern us.

“The first 15 minutes we want to be in the middle of the match, to show the Thai team that it will be difficult to score against us. We want to put a lot of energy in playing down the field and as soon as possible score a goal.”

‘They are very good soccer players. They are technically very skilled’

— German coach Silvia Neid, whose team destroyed Ivory Coast, on the Thailand team

Germany did that against Ivory Coast, hitting the board just three minutes in to start the onslaught.

If, as expected, Germany prevails in Group B, it will go back to Ottawa to face one of the third-place teams in the first round of elimination games.

Who that might be is pretty hard to figure out at the moment.

“You can’t plan it,” Neid cautioned. “You can’t predict it. Nobody was able to predict that France would lose against Colombia. That shows you can never tell. You just have to wait… make sure you’re well prepared for every match and then we’ll have to accept it the way it is. Don’t waste your time thinking about what-if and so on.”

Veteran midfielder Melanie Behringer, a member of Germany’s 2007 World Cup champions, said her team has done its homework for today’s match.

“We’re really looking forward to the match tomorrow,” she said Sunday. “We know how they’re going to be playing. We’ve seen video. They’re technically very good. They’re energetic. You can’t leave them any space. We have to dominate them with our game.

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“Tomorrow we want to do that better (than against Norway), implement (the game plan) better and finish our opportunities more and score as many goals as we can.”

Last in Sunday’s interview, Behringer was invited to rejoin the controversy surrounding the playing surfaces for this tournament.

Saturday, American star Abby Wambach said she her teammates would have more goals in this World Cup were it being played on grass, not field turf.

“Of course it’s a difference,” Behringer said. “But we have demonstrated that you can score. So I don’t want to make this all about the turf. The ball acts differently, flies differently, but still, of course you can score.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca