Get ready for another round of great soccer action at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Tournament favorite Germany played to a 1-1 draw against Norway on Thursday, while Thailand bagged its first women’s World Cup victory with a 3-2 win over Ivory Coast on the same day.
Group B is turning out to be a competitive field, and both Germany and Thailand are looking to get the upper hand in the standings on Monday. Read on as we break down the matchup between these two remarkable football clubs. In other Women’s World Cup action, head on over here for our preview of the Group A matchup between Canada and the Netherlands.
The Germans were given a true test this Thursday, as they settled for a 1-1 draw against World No. 11 Norway.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]The best team heading into the tournament scored 10 goals in its first match against Ivory Coast, but failed to score more than once in a highly-competitive bout against the Scandinavians. Anja Mittag managed to score a goal just six minutes into the match, but Die Nationalelf failed to regain the lead after Norway’s Maren Mjelde evened the score in the second half.
What’s good about the Germans’ showing in this game is that they are still very capable of producing a great number of attempts to score. Theu had 27 shots in the match, with eight of those being on-target. They just couldn’t get through Norway’s tenacious goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth. And at least Germany’s defense is still very much on par, as it only surrendered four shots to Norway the entire match.
Expect Germany to be back at firing from all cylinders against Thailand on Monday. The Germans have not lost a match at the World Cup since their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Japan back in 2011. In fact, that loss to Japan is their only defeat in regulation for the past three World Cup events. They also have never lost a match to a team that wasn’t in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings in all of their past six World Cup tournaments.
Ivory Coast got an early 1-0 lead in Thursday’s match, but Thailand responded with three unanswered goals and held on for the 3-2 victory for its first win at the FIFA World Cup.
Orathai Srimanee was the undoubted heroine for Thailand from Thursday’s bout. She scored two goals in the 26th and 45th minutes of the match held on the eve of her 27th birthday. The promising forward now has two goals on just four shots in two matches played in this year’s tournament.
Thailand’s third insurance goal came at the 75th minute of the match courtesy of Thanatta Chawong. Chawong is one of Thailand’s most experienced players on the squad with 66 caps and 23 goals in her professional career.
Ivory Coast still got one goal from Nahi Josee with two minutes left in regulation, but it would be too little too late as The War Elephants would hang on for their deserving win. Thailand will now face their biggest challenge to date when they take one World No. 1 Germany on Monday.
If Srimanee, Chawong and the rest of the Changsuk squad can keep up the spirit and momentum from Thursday’s win, then they just might be able to pull off the biggest upset in Women’s World Cup history. Look for their prolific midfielder Kanjana Sungngoen to also be involved next week’s action. Sungngoen has 30 career international goals in 46 caps.
Writer’s Prediction
Germany proves to be too much for Thailand and wins 4-0.
