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Germany records 2nd-biggest win in Women's World Cup history by dropping 10 on Ivory Coast

Reuters

Germany is, despite what would be some fierce protestations from the United States, the best team on the planet. The Ivory Coast, meanwhile, is the lowest-ranked team competing at this summer's 2015 World Cup.

Sunday afternoon in Ottawa, that gulf was abundantly clear.

The two-time World Cup champions, favored by many to claim a third title, welcomed the Ivorians to the competition with a thud, filling up the stat line like an insatiable glutton en route to a 10-0 victory.

Both Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag, the team's two most devastating attacking players, recorded hat tricks on a picturesque afternoon in the Canadian capital - the former setting a World Cup record with three goals in just 31 minutes.

In truth, the drubbing came as little surprise. Women's football, which has made massive strides over the last two decades, is still growing. In any sport, these blowouts happen when the best team in the world is confronted with one in its (relative) infancy, making a first-ever appearance on the grandest stage the game has to offer.

A great team beat one not nearly at the same level. It happens. Everywhere. Women's soccer is no different. And, like those other sports, the competition will improve with time.

The Ivory Coast will improve with time. With patience.

This, though, was a lesson in how far they have to go if they harbor hopes - as every team does - of reaching the pinnacle.

The Germans, dominant athletes with superior skill in every position, hit five goals on each side of the half-time interval, with Simone Laudehr, Sara Daebritz, Melanie Behringer, and Alexandra Popp adding to the aforementioned hat tricks from Sasic and Mittag.

Though Ivory Coast shot-stopper Dominique Thiamale spent much of the match picking the ball out of her own net, she can take some solace in the fact that were it not for her flinging her body in front of an arsenal of German shots - of which there were 29 in total - the score would have been much worse.

Despite those heroics, though, she could do nothing to keep out what was the prettiest goal of the day, with Popp closing out the scoring with an inch-perfect free kick in the 85th minute.

The Germans, who now sit atop Group B on goal difference, will turn their attention to a June 11 showdown with fellow European powers Norway, who themselves defeated Thailand in the day's early contest.

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