Germany breezed past Morocco with a dominant 6-0 victory in their opening Group H game of the Women’s World Cup in Melbourne.

A brace from Alexandra Popp, goals from Klara Buhl and Lea Schuller and two own goals saw the Euro 2022 finalists flex their quality from the first whistle in a one-sided game.

Germany’s fast start shocked Morocco and their high press paid dividends in the 11th minute when they forced a turnover and Kathrin Hendrich’s cross found the head of Popp, who put her side 1-0 up.

Germany added another in the 38th minute when Buhl’s corner met the head of the unmarked Popp to grab her second of the game and double her side’s lead.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first as Popp was denied a hat-trick by the woodwork in the 46th minute, but Buhl turned scorer by being the first to react with a driven finish into Khadija Er-Rmichi’s net to make it 3-0.

The German set-piece caused problems for their opponents and Svenja Huth’s testing delivery forced Hanane Ait El Haj to put into her own net to make it 4-0 in the 54th minute before the rout continued with another own goal by Yasmin Mrabet in the 79th minute to add a fifth.

The victory was rounded off in added time when Lena Lattwein’s shot was parried by Er-Rmichi into the path of Schuller, who added the sixth goal of the evening as Germany started their World Cup campaign in convincing fashion.