USWNT 13, Thailand 0: The incredible stats behind the USA's record-breaking World Cup opener

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USWNT 13, Thailand 0: The incredible stats behind the USA's record-breaking World Cup opener image

The U.S. women's national team got its World Cup defense off to a flying start on Tuesday, blowing past Thailand with a record-breaking 13-0 win.  

Having claimed the World Cup in 2015, the USWNT started off the 2019 competition by setting a record for the largest margin of victory in World Cup history, men's or women's, and rolled to a few other impressive marks along the way.  

Alex Morgan was the star of the night. The 29-year-old scored the USA's first, fifth, eighth, 10th and 12th goals, becoming just the second player in the history of the Women's World Cup to net five goals in a single game.  

USWNT legend Michelle Akers was the only other player to hit five in one match, doing so during the 1991 competition against Chinese Taipei, but Morgan was not content with just scoring goals.  

She was happy to set the table for others as well, notching three assists on the night, the most for any single player in Women's World Cup history, capping off a historic performance that saw her account for eight of the 13 goals scored.

Morgan also became the fourth USWNT player in history to score a hat-trick in a single World Cup match, joining Carli Lloyd, Michelle Akers and Carin Jennings in netting three goals to leave the USA just one player back of Germany (five) for the most in history.  

Despite a 3-0 lead at halftime the USA really poured it on in the second half.  

There were just six minutes between Sam Mewis scoring the fourth for the USWNT and Rose Lavelle hitting the seventh.

That first Mewis goal was also a milestone for the Women's World Cup. It was the 800th goal struck in the competition, with the USWNT having racked up 116 of those to that point.

They would go on to score nine more, taking their tally of goals in the competition to 125, more than an eighth of the total scored by all teams all time. 

Overall the USWNT racked up 40 shots, putting 20 of them on goal. Both of those numbers constitute Women's World Cup records. 

The USA also became the first team in the history of the competition to have three players finish with at least two goals, with Morgan, Mewis and Lavelle all striking at least twice. 

The USWNT will be back on the pitch Sunday to take on Chile, with the side's final group match set for next Thursday against Sweden. 

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