The Germany Women are into the last 16 of the World Cup in Canada as group winners. Silvia Neid’s team secured a 4-0 victory in their final group game against underdogs Thailand.
A Lena Petermann brace and further goals from Melanie Leupolz and Sara Däbritz in Winnipeg ensured that the twice World Cup winners and eight-time European Champions will face the third-placed side from either Group A, C or D in the first of the knockout stages on Saturday at 22:00 CEST. Germany had recorded a win and a draw in their first two group games against the Ivory Coast and Norway respectively.
Seven new faces in the starting line-up
Neid made a host of changes to her team following the 1-1 draw with Norway on Thursday. Goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, centre back Annike Krahn, midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan and striker Celia Sasic were the only ones to keep their places.
The new-look side struggled to create clear-cut chances in the early stages against the team ranked 29th in the world, with Thailand content to sit back. Only shots from distance were keeping the just 1.70m goalkeeper Waraporn Boonsing busy. Melanie Behringer was the first to take aim after three minutes, followed 60 seconds later by a Leupolz effort that was cleared off the line. Däbritz and Leupolz had further shots inside the opening quarter of an hour that were comfortably dealt with.
Leupolz sets the ball rolling
At the other end, Kanjana Sung-Ngoen wasted a good counterattacking opportunity on the 20-minute mark after a mistake from Krahn, but Babett Peter was quick to snuff out the danger. It was a set piece that finally got Germany off the mark after 24 minutes, with Leupolz nodding in a corner from her Bayern teammate Behringer. Dzsenifer Marozsan could have added a second before the break, but goalkeeper Boonsing denied her from a one-on-one.
Neid introduced Lena Petermann and Anja Mittag in place of Marozsan and Sasic for the second half, and the first goalscoring opportunity after the change of ends fell to the fresh-faced Petermann, but her finish wasn’t accurate enough. She made amends in the 56th minute though, turning home a pinpoint cross from Bianca Schmidt. Her afternoon got even better soon after, with the U20 World Cup winner heading in Germany’s third goal of the day following a Behringer corner.
Däbritz rounds off the scoring
Josephine Henning also entered the action around the hour mark, becoming the last outfield player to get some minutes at the tournament by replacing Annike Krahn. A visibly flagging Thailand side managed to keep the DFB-Team at bay for just ten more minutes, before the favourites added goal number four. A cross from Mittag wasn’t met properly by Petermann, but Bayern-bound striker Däbritz picked up the pieces.
Petermann almost sealed her hat-trick with around 15 minutes left on the clock, but a last-ditch block denied her the match ball. The final result could have been much clearer for Germany, but Mittag was also kept at bay from two decent chances in the closing stages. Still, it was a resounding win for Silvia Neid’s team, which sees them top Group B ahead of Norway courtesy of a superior goal difference, while Thailand will have to wait and see if they will join them in the last 16 after beating the Ivory Coast to third place.
