Germany vs. Ivory Coast: Score and Twitter Reaction for Women's Soccer World Cup

Women's World Cup favourites Germany sent a strong message to the rest of the field Sunday by thumping Ivory Coast 10-0 in their opening match of the tournament.  

Germany climbed above Norway to the head of Group B after the convincing victory, with the official tournament Twitter account confirming their dismantling of the Women's World Cup debutants:

Ivory Coast showed their inexperience at Ottawa's Lansdowne Stadium, as it took Celia Sasic just three minutes to open the scoring and get her hat-trick off to a start.

Stringing together a passing phase in the double digits proved nearly impossible for the African representatives, who could barely get a grip of the ball before German shadows hounded them.

Position	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Germany	1	1	0	0	10	0	+10	3
2	Norway	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	3
3	Thailand	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0
4	Ivory Coast	1	0	0	1	0	10	−10	0

When head coach Silvia Neid's women weren't in possession, they were relentless in chasing it down, and it wasn't long before the shot count began to pile up in Germany's favour, almost unfairly so.

Sasic added her second in the 14th minute, and after attacking partner Anja Mittag scored Germany's third goal in the 29th minute, the 26-year-old bagged her third two minutes later.

ESPN Stats & Info shared a note about her landmark achievement: 

Ivory Coast's defence looked subpar, admittedly, but there was hardly anything Clementine Toure's team could do when their borders were under such restless assault. The European giants simply looked light-years ahead in terms of technical know-how.

Bleacher Report's Cristian Nyari attested to the notion that the midfield battle was deciding the fixture:

Mittag converted her second before the first period was through, and as impressive as the finishing was, the likes of Lena Gossling and Simone Laudehr pulling the strings perhaps shone brightest.

As Ivory Coast failed to make any impact on the German defence, ESPN Stats & Info illustrated just how one-sided this tie was:

Germany withdrew Sasic at the break in a bid to preserve her fitness, and it seemed to take effect with the Elephants, who actually managed to keep their tormentors at bay for the first 20 minutes of the second half.

But in the 64th minute, Mittag joined her departed team-mate with a hat-trick of her own. That entered their names into the Women's World Cup history books as a result, as ESPN's Paul Carr noted:

The international veteran turned provider next, setting up Laudehr for what was her 25th goal in national team colours before substitutes Lena Petermann and Sara Dabritz linked up to convert Germany's eighth.

WFTV's Christian Bruey confirmed the strike as Petermann's first World Cup contribution, while the 20-year-old Dabritz celebrated her first international goal:

The strength in bench options showed that not only are Germany's seasoned stars a force to be reckoned with, but their reserve of top-tier alternatives sits not far off that standard, either.

Before the 90 minutes was through, Melanie Behringer—another substitute—and Alexandra Popp saw to it that Die Nationalelf attained that elusive double-digit scoreline, striking in the 79th and 85th minutes, respectively.

Andre Ringuette/Getty Images

Realistically, Neid will be fully aware of the fact bigger opposition are to come for her team in this tournament, but even that knowledge won't suppress the joy of getting the World Cup off to such a bright start.

Next up for Germany comes what could be a decisive Group B clash on Thursday against Norway, currently in second, while Ivory Coast will attempt to reverse their fortunes against third-place Thailand.