United States makes a statement with 13-0 win over Thailand to open Women’s World Cup

Alex Morgan had five goals and two assists to lead the United States to a record-setting 13-0 win over Thailand to open their World Cup title defense in France on Tuesday.

Morgan opened the scoring in the 12th minute and after scoring four more of her own to become the second U.S. player with five goals set up Delran, N.J. native and Sky Blue FC forward Carli Lloyd in second half stoppage time to put one last exclamation point on the game.

“Every goal matters in this tournament,” Morgan said in an interview after Team USA set a new record for margin of victory in the FIFA World Cup (men’s or women’s).

Lindsey Horan, Mallory Pugh and Megan Rapinoe also scored and Samantha Mewis and Megan Rapinoe each scored a pair of goals. Rapinoe also had a pair of assists.

Morgan is the fourth U.S. player to score a World Cup hat trick. Lloyd had a hat trick in the last World Cup game involving a team from the United States on July 5, 2015 in a 5-2 win over Japan in the final. Michelle Akers had five in the 1991 quarterfinal against Chinese Taipei and Carin Jennings had a hat trick in the semifinal against Germany.

Team USA’s 13-goal win was the largest margin of victory in the history of the FIFA World Cup, both men’s and women’s.

The Stars and Stripes take on Chile at noon on Sunday. Chile fell 2-0 to Sweden, conceding the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute to Kosovare Asllani and another to Madelen Janogy in the fourth minute of second half stoppage time.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

See Full Bio