Can you believe it? We’re just days away from the start of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and excitement is slowly building for this great sporting spectacle. Germany arrives at this event as one of the tournament favorites, having won two of the last three World Cups as well as the recent European Championship.
The highly-touted Germans will open their campaign this coming Sunday against tournament rookies Ivory Coast. In this classic case of youth vs. experience, who will emerge victorious? Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this Group B match and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the tournament’s opening game between hosts Canada and China here.
Germany will head to the 2015 Women’s World Cup with momentum on its side after a dominant showing in the UEFA qualifying group stages. The Germans were ruthless in that group phase as they won all of their 10 matches. They had a mind-blowing goal differential of +58 as they scored a whopping 62 goals in those 10 games. That output was eight more than France, the next-highest scorers.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]Expected to lead the way for the Germans in this World Cup is their talented attacking duo of Anja Mittag and Celia Sasic. Mittag has been a regular fixture in the national team for 11 years now and has amassed a total of 33 goals in 120 appearances. Sasic, on the other hand, has scored an astounding 57 goals in 104 caps for Germany. They combined for 20 goals in Germany’s highly-successful qualifying campaign.
The Germans also have the young phenom Dzsenifer Marozsan in their ranks. The 22-year-old has already scored 25 goals in 48 appearances for the national team. Marozsan, the youngest player to ever play in the history of Bundesliga, scored eight goals in the group stages.
It’s not just the offense that Ivory Coast has to worry about with regard to this all-conquering German side. The Germans are solid at the back as well, as evidenced by the four goals that they allowed in the recent qualifying stages. Experience flows in Germany’s backline with defender Annike Krahn and goalkeeper Nadine Angerer leading the way for the two-time champions.
The Women’s World Cup is finally here! Create a betting account now and cash in on all the exciting soccer action.
Betting on Ivory Coast
If there’s one team in this competition who knows how to play spoiler, it’s got to be Ivory Coast. The West African nation bucked the odds in the 2014 African Women’s Championships, upsetting South Africa, 1-0, in the third place match to book a place in the World Cup. Ida Guehai scored the winning goal in the 84th minute to help Ivory Coast clinch its first ever World Cup berth.
All the momentum from that stunning victory in October was lost, however, after Ivory Coast’s soccer federation didn’t give enough support to the team’s World Cup preparation. It’s incredible to think that Ivory Coast played just a single friendly in the last seven months. They lost that match, 3-2, to Cameroon a couple of weeks ago.
To make matters worse for Ivory Coast, it has to face the mighty Germany in its opening group match. For Ivory Coast to record a massive upset, it needs a huge performance from Guehai. Even though she is only 20 years old, she’s already a vital cog for the Ivory Coast squad. She recently moved to Kristianstads DFF, a team in Sweden’s highest division. She’s already starting to make waves there, scoring three goals in her first three games for the club.
Much of Ivory Coast’s success, however, will hinge on the strike partnership of Estelle Nahi and Tia Ines. Nahi and Ines were a nuisance to opposing defenders at the recent African Championships with their ability to switch sides repeatedly during a match. Ines was Ivory Coast’s leading scorer in qualifying with five goals.
That being said, chances against the powerhouse Germans will definitely be few and far between. They will need to be solid at the back to counter Germany’s vaunted high-pressing game. The onus is on goalkeeper Dominique Thiamale to be solid between the posts. The captain produced that memorable clean sheet in Ivory Coast’s historic win against South Africa.
