Ivory Coast and Thailand got a rude awakening in their World Cup debuts as they suffered humiliating defeats to Germany and Norway, respectively. They will look to get their Group B campaigns right back on track when they square off this coming Thursday in all-important showdown at Lansdowne Stadium.
Who will emerge victorious in this battle between cellar-dwellers? Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this soccer match and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the USA vs. Sweden Group D encounter.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]The West African nation’s World Cup stint is off to a horrible start after absorbing a 10-0 shellacking at the hands of two-time champion Germany on Sunday. That double-digit defeat was the second most-lopsided defeat in the history of the Women’s World Cup.
Ivory Coast had no answer for Germany’s Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag who became just the third duo in the history of the competition to score hat-tricks in the same contest. They matched the feats set by Brazil’s Petinha and Sessi in 1991, and Germany’s Brigit Prinz and Sandra Smisek back in 2007.
The result could have been much worse for Ivory Coast if not for the heroics of goalkeeper Dominique Thiamale. She pulled off several excellent saves that kept the game from being a tremendous blowout. The biggest issue for Ivory Coast in this match, however, was its abysmal defense. The Ivory Coast backline had trouble picking out Germany’s off-the-ball runs that was the source of most of its goals.
The good news for Ivory Coast is that its next opponent, Thailand, is no soccer superpower. After going toe-to-toe with the world’s top-ranked soccer team, Ivory Coast will fancy its chances this time against a team ranked just 29th in the world. For Ivory Coast to grab that all-important victory against Thailand, it needs to control more possession this time around. Ivory Coast only had 39% of the ball against Germany on Sunday. Ivory Coast needs to make full use of its speed down the flanks for that to occur and for them to threaten the Thailand defense.
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Betting on Thailand
Thailand’s World Cup campaign may have started off on the wrong foot but there were still plenty of positives for the Thais to take heading into their crunch clash with Ivory Coast this coming Thursday. Even though they lost 4-0 to Norway on Sunday, there were moments in the match that showed that they really belonged on the world stage.
The World Cup first-timers didn’t look over-awed by the occasion as they were the much better side in the opening 15 minutes against Norway. Thailand even had a grand opportunity to make history with its first ever World Cup goal but Silawen Intamee missed a gilt-edged chance from just five yards out.
Unfortunately for Thailand, their confident start didn’t last long as they were eventually overwhelmed by a tough Norwegian outfit. Norway controlled majority of the possession the rest of the way as it had 65% of the ball against the Thais the entire match.
With that being said, the Thais will take comfort in the fact that they were able to create several chances against Norway. They had seven attempts against the European side with three of those going on target. For Thailand to replicate that same offensive performance against Ivory Coast, they need Kanjana Sung-Ngoen to produce another blistering performance. Her pace was electric at times against Norway and she will be the one tasked to unlock an atrocious Ivory Coast defense that allowed a whopping 29 German attempts on Sunday.
The Thais will also be licking their chops at the prospect of facing an Ivory Coast side that could be playing without their star goalkeeper Dominique Thiamale. Thiamale injured her shoulder in the first half and received treatment on the pitch several times in the match. Thiamale was exceptional in that 10-goal defeat to Germany, recording a total of seven saves.
Writer’s Prediction
Thailand (+330) makes history with a dramatic 2-1 win.
