The United States recorded the biggest ever victory in the Fifa Women’s World Cup as they crushed Thailand 13-0.

The 2015 winners were 3-0 up at half-time, scored four times in 10 minutes in the second half and then added six more goals in the last 16 minutes.

Alex Morgan scored five times for the United States with two goals apiece for Rose Lavelle and Samantha Mewis.

Lindsey Horan, Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh and Carli Lloyd also scored to beat Germany’s 11-0 win over Argentina.

The United States’ previous biggest win in the tournament was a 7-0 success over Chinese Taipei in 1991, while Germany’s thrashing of Argentina came in 2007.

Ruthless USA do not let up
The USA players refused to take their foot off the accelerator in the closing stages, taking an 8-0 lead into the final 12 minutes before adding five further goals.

Several of Thailand’s players were clearly upset at the final whistle, with tears streaming down forward Suchawadee Nildhamrong’s face, while some members of the USA team attempted to console their opponents.

Five-goal striker Morgan said: “With the scoreline tonight, we have to look at the group stage as every goal counts.

“It was important for us to continue to go. We knew every goal could matter.”

The defending champions have lost just one international game since July 2017 and have now won seven games in a row, scoring 36 goals in the process, and not conceding in five matches.

How good did the USA look?
The USA are bidding to reach their third consecutive final and become only the second nation to successfully defend a Women’s World Cup title, after Germany’s 2003 and 2007 successes.

They arrived in France as favourites to win a record fourth title, but many pundits have tipped France, England or the Netherlands to succeed, with Canada, Australia and Sweden mentioned as dark horses.

Head coach Jill Ellis’ side finished second in this year’s SheBelieves Cup to winners England but on Tuesday at Stade Auguste-Delaune they reminded the world of their attacking class in a game in which they could have actually scored many more.

They had 40 attempts at goal, including 20 on target, and were also denied two strong appeals for penalties in the first half.

Thailand boss urges her side to ‘bounce back’
Thailand, ranked 34th in the world, lost 9-0 in their previous meeting with the USA in a friendly in 2016 and were playing in the finals for only the second time, having been eliminated in the group stage in 2015.

They could still make the next phase but need good results against Sweden and Chile, who played each other earlier on Tuesday with the Europeans winning 2-0.

Thailand boss Nuengruethai Sathongwien praised the attitude of the American players after the final whistle and said: “They saw that our players were very disappointed and they wanted to encourage us to continue fighting. Thank you very much for that.

“We’ve got two more games to play and we need to bounce back. They have their responsibilities and they know what they need to do.

“My players were waiting for this moment and they were really disappointed. ”

Source: BBC