The second-ranked women’s team against the 72nd-ranked women’s team in the world, a nation that has featured at every WWC finals vs one making their bow on the world stage - there could not have been much more disparity in this clash between Germany and Morocco.
It only took Die Nationalelf 10 minutes to open the scoring, with Alexandra Popp leaping highest to head Kathrin Hendrich’s cross into the top corner after the African nation had given the ball away in a dangerous area.
Getting off the mark so quickly prompted the question of just how many goals the Germans would score. After all, two of the four instances 10 or more goals have been scored at the WWC finals, it has been this team to do it in group openers. To their credit, the Lionesses of Atlas stood firm and managed to withstand a barrage from the leaders in the first half.
However, that didn’t prevent the inevitable Popp from heading in her second from Klara Buhl’s corner on the stroke of HT, edging her ever closer to that personal milestone.
Buhl would then transform from provider to goalscorer, and it only took her 10 seconds after the restart to do so. Having initially started the move on the left flank, she stormed into the penalty to slot in a rebound from Lina Magull’s initial effort that had come back off the post.
Buhl should have doubled her tally and made it four moments later but hit the post when through on goal, though ultimately her blushes would be spared as Hanane Ait El Haj inadvertently deflected Elodie Nakkach’s headed clearance beyond her own goalkeeper to round off a frantic nine-minute period.
Later Khadija Errmichi made a mess of a punched clearance from another corner, and the ball ricocheted off Zineb Redouani for a second own goal by a Moroccan player. Popp attempted to bundle the ball in for what would have been her all-important third, though it had already crossed the line by the time she made contact.
Substitute Lea Schuller then added a sixth, tapping in unmarked at the back post as the clock struck 90 minutes, rounding off a perfect start to the tournament for Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side.
Flashscore Player of the Match: Alexandra Popp (Germany)
