Women’s World Cup Day 5: Back to the Mold

After days of unexpectedly close games between unevenly matched teams, the FIFA Women’s World Cup is looking a bit more like it usually does.

Watching Germany (ranked second in the world) and Brazil (eighth) decidedly defeat their respective opponents, Morocco (72nd) and Panama (52nd), was reminiscent of World Cups past, when upstart teams wouldn’t even have a chance.

Italy 1, Argentina 0

In a relatively evenly matched meeting between Italy (No. 16) and Argentina (No. 28), Italy dominated in terms of shots and chances, although the two teams split possession fairly equally. The game got scrappy at points: A total of six yellow cards were issued, two to Italy and four to Argentina.

Italy had two goals disallowed with offsides, and had 12 shots (four on target) that it struggled to turn into goals. Argentina had a few good chances, including a very close opportunity off of a free kick near the box, but the ball made its way out of bounds.

But in the 87th minute, Italian striker Cristiana Girelli hit a header off a beautiful long cross from defender Lisa Boattin. The goal gave Italy the lead late, and led them to a victory that had seemed just out of reach during the match.

Germany 6, Morocco 0

Many of the World Cup debutantes have held their own in this tournament, but unfortunately for Morocco, this game was a blowout.

German captain Alexandra Popp opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a header off a cross from defender Kathrin Hendrich. Popp then scored a second goal 28 minutes later off a corner kick.

Two more goals were scored by German players: midfielder Klara Bühl seconds after the start of the second half, and striker Lea Schüller in the 90th minute. Both goals were scored on the rebound as Morocco was unable to get a hold on the ball.

But the two most unfortunate goals were the own goals, from Moroccan defenders Hanane Aït El Haj in the 54th minute and Yasmin Mrabet in the 79th. Such miscommunications and unlucky touches may haunt Morocco as they move forward, and Morocco's bad fortune certainly boded well for Germany in this match.

Also painful for the Moroccans: Forward Anissa Lahmari scored for Morocco in what appeared to be the team’s first-ever World Cup goal, and the first goal scored by a debut team in this tournament so far. But the goal was regrettably called back because of offsides.

Brazil 4, Panama 0

Brazil is going into this tournament with a chip on their shoulder: Despite success at the Olympics and in South American tournaments, it hasn’t made it past the Round of 16 since the 2011 World Cup, when they made it to the Quarter-finals. Plus, their veteran forward Marta is playing in her sixth, and likely last, World Cup.

So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Brazil came to play against newcomer Panama. Midfielder Ary Borges, making her World Cup debut, scored a hat trick for the Brazilian team. Borges opened the scoring in the 19th minute before following up in the 39th. She got an assist on a goal scored by forward Beatriz Zaneratto João as part of a beautiful Brazilian sequence; Borges’s assist was an unselfish and cheeky backheel pass that let her teammate score instead of capturing a hat trick.

But then, Borges got her hat trick anyway: In the 70th minute, her header went between Panama keeper Yenith Bailey’s legs, making 23-year-old Borges the youngest player in Women’s World Cup history to hit a hat trick.

Panama put up a fight, especially with American-born forward Riley Tanner, who had a few good chances, but was unable to produce much against dominant Brazil, which kept 73 percent of the possession.

Takeaways

So far, all but one of the group stage games has ended with one team scoreless. The four players at the top of the running for the Golden Boot are from Brazil (Ary Borges), the U.S. (Sophia Smith), Japan (Miyazawa Hinata) and Germany (Alexandra Popp) — four longtime women’s soccer powerhouses. None of the World Cup debutantes have scored a goal so far in this tournament. It’s a pattern, and it will be interesting to see if it breaks by the end of the group stage.

The last of this first set of games ends tonight, with Colombia-South Korea at 10 p.m. ET. After that, the World Cup will move on to the second set of games, where there are some incredibly compelling matchups that might end in dramatic fashion — and we’ll see if the mold holds.

Next on the slate:

Colombia vs. South Korea, 10 p.m. ET

New Zealand vs. Philippines, 1:30 a.m. ET

Switzerland vs. Norway, 4 a.m. ET