Story Highlights Abby Wambach scored twice to move into second on the international scoring list The U.S. blanked Canada 4-0 to win the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tourney Wambach pushed her career goal total to 131, short of leader Mia Hamm's 158 |
Abby Wambach (right) scored twice to help the U.S. win the CONCACAF tourney.
Ben Nelms/Reuters
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- With a flick of the head, Abby Wambach sent Alex Morgan on a 30-yard run that gave the United States an early lead, the first of three goals resulting from impeccable teamwork between the veteran and the up-and-comer.
There's no question that Wambach, now the second leading goal-scorer in women's soccer, will be at the front of the attack for the U.S. women's soccer team at the London Olympics. The emerging question is whether Morgan should be starting as well.
Wambach and Morgan scored two goals apiece Sunday night in the Americans' 4-0 victory over Canada in the championship game of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, a match that was essentially for bragging rights between two teams that had already earned their berths for the Summer Games.
"I'm not going to lie. I think we play really well together," Wambach said. "Her skill set is completely opposite of mine, and that just makes for a nightmare for any defenses. She's so fast. Not only is she fast, she's so strong on the ball."
Wambach's head-flick provided the assist on Morgan's goal in the fourth minute, then Morgan assisted in the 24th and 28th as Wambach pushed her career total to 131 goals, one ahead of longtime U.S. captain Kristine Lilly. The 31-year-old forward said last week that it's only a matter of time before she or Canada's Christine Sinclair topple Mia Hamm's record of 158, but that's still a few years off.
"Lill emailed me a couple of days ago," Wambach said. "And she says `How about you go ahead and tie me already, and then why don't you go ahead and beat me already? But don't make it a toe-poke, make it a nice goal.' And I think those two goals were great goals for us."
Wambach left for a sub at halftime, but Morgan continued merrily on, scoring her second goal in the 56th after running onto a long ball from Lauren Cheney.
Morgan has become the Americans' super-sub, bringing energy and lightning-fast scoring potential off the bench at last year's World Cup. She'd prefer to start - and she admits she was mad when she sat the entire game against Mexico last week - and she took advantage of a spot in the first 11 on Sunday to show that is perhaps where she belongs.
"If we play tomorrow, I'd say yes," coach Pia Sundhage said. "When we go to Algarve Cup (next month), I don't know. That's the beauty of the team we have right now. We will still change the starting lineup quite a bit. Regardless of who we pick, it will be a good team. But she brought something special today with Abby."
Sundhage has been starting games with a Wambach alone at the top of a 4-2-3-1 formation. Playing Wambach and Morgan together, as the coach did Sunday, makes it a more traditional 4-4-2 - and it worked magic from the opening whistle.
When Carli Lloyd hit a long ball early in the game, Wambach knew that all she had to do was nod it to on to Morgan, who used her power and speed to fight off two defenders. Canada's Candace Chapman did everything but pull Morgan to the ground, but instead it was Chapman who ended up on the turf as Morgan finished off a left-footer from 12 yards.
Morgan then supplied the cross for Wambach's header to make it 2-0, then collected a rebound and slid the ball to Wambach again for an easy right-footer from 7 yards four minutes later.
Wambach and Sinclair started the game tied at 129 goals, but the anticipated head-to-head matchup between two of the game's greats turned out to be as lopsided as the final score. Sinclair, whose nine goals led all scorers in the tournament, found herself bottled up by U.S. defenders. The better scoring chances were left to Christina Julien, who was twice stymied point-blank by goalkeeper Hope Solo in the first half.
Solo played every minute of the tournament despite a slight pull of her right quadriceps suffered before the second game. The Americans outscored their opponents by a combined score of 38-0 over five games.
The U.S. and Canada were playing for the 50th or 51st time - there's some disagreement between the two sides over a game that might or might not have taken place in the 1980s - but either way it's been a series of American domination. Canada has only three wins and five draws, its last victory coming 11 years ago in a tournament in Portugal.
Even a sellout crowd of 25,427 at BC Place - the second-largest ever for a Canada home game - failed to rally the underdogs, who have much work to do to catch up with the Americans before heading to London.
"From what we can see, the naked eye will tell you, there's a bit of a gap there," Canada coach John Herdman said. "We can close that gap. I'm absolutely sure."
U.S. women's soccer dumps Costa Rica, qualifies for 2012 Olympics | Story Highlights The U.S. defeated Costa Rica 3-0 to qualify for the Olympic tournament Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan scored goals for the U.S. The U.S. outscored their opponents 34-0 in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament |
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- So much was on the line for the U.S. women's soccer team that maybe some jitters were understandable. When a 30-yard shot hit the frame of goalpost, leaving the ball sitting in front of an empty net, the hearts really started pounding.
"That," defender Rachel Buehler said, "was a very intense moment in the game."
Buehler motored in to save the day, knocking an opposing striker off the ball. The Americans had survived another dicey moment. It took a while, but eventually they wore down a heavy underdog and earned their spot in the Olympics.
The United States booked its way to London on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, a game more suspenseful than most anyone expected.
"There were moments where I think Costa Rica were outplaying us, and it just shows you how important it was to all of us," forward Abby Wambach said. "Nobody wanted to make that mistake. And luckily we didn't."
Tobin Heath scored in the 16th minute to give U.S. all the offense it needed, and goals by Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Alex Morgan (89th) put the game away.
"We know that sometimes under big game circumstances players can get a little tight," Wambach said. "And you've just kind of got to deal with it. ... It was almost as if we scored that goal and nobody wanted to get stuck into a tackle. We were kind of playing a little bit soft, and we fixed that in the second half."
The top-ranked Americans were certainly not as crisp as they were when they were beating teams by a combined 31-0 in their previous three games and drawing criticism for running up the score. Sloppy passes led to giveaways in the first half, forcing goalkeeper Hope Solo to work harder than she has all tournament.
"When you play games that matter, everybody's a little bit nervous. ... We gave away the ball way too often," coach Pia Sundhage said.
Costa Rica is ranked No. 41 in the world, has never qualified for an Olympics or a World Cup and has never scored on the U.S. in eight meetings. Las Ticas proved to be scrappy opponents, however, occasionally frustrating the Americans with physical play and just missing on two solid scoring chances in the first half in the London-or-bust match. As the possibility of an upset lingered deep into the second half, the plucky team in red gained the rousing support of the Canadian fans at BC Place.
"We put together three great games in group play," said Solo, who played despite a slightly pulled right quadriceps that had been bothering her all week. "You can't play four, five, six. Not every team is going to play perfectly every single game, but we got the job done."
The U.S. will be the two-time defending champions in London, having taken gold in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008. It will be the third straight Olympics in which the Americans will be trying to make amends for World Cup disappointment from the previous year. They finished second at last year's World Cup in Germany, losing to Japan in the final.
The victory also puts the Americans into the tournament final Sunday, a bragging-rights-only game against Canada, a 3-1 winner over Mexico in the second semifinal.
The U.S. had scored so easily in the tournament that it seemed odd to see the game scoreless until the 16th minute, when a set piece produced the first goal. Lauren Cheney's corner kick was headed down at the far post by Shannon Boxx. Goalkeeper Erika Miranda made the save but deflected the ball to Heath, whose looping header was her fifth career U.S. national team goal.
Costa Rica, outscored 34-0 in the seven previous games against the U.S., nearly tied the game after a giveaway by Buehler set up Fernanda Barrantes with a clean look from 15 yards in the 20th minute, forcing Solo to the ground to make the save.
Then, in the 27th, came the play that nearly changed the game. Carol Sanchez launched the 30-yarder that clanged off the frame at the intersection of the post and the crossbar. With Solo on the ground, Buehler fought off Barrantes to keep the striker from getting the rebound with a clean shot at the net.
"I just did everything I could to get back there, get in front of that girl and just prevent the goal," Buehler said.
Costa Rica finally had its hopes deflated in the 72nd, when Wambach's chip shot was cleared off the line by Daniela Cruz and out to Lloyd, whose left-footer from the top of the 18-yard box doubled the lead.
Morgan, back in her usual role as second-half super-sub, chipped in the insurance goal shortly before the final whistle.
Even with the closer-than-expected result, the Americans have evoked the good old days at this tournament with their mostly lopsided scores. While that's hardly surprising given the slow development of women's soccer in parts of North and Central American and the Caribbean, it's also indicative the U.S. still have the deepest, most talented team in the world.
But Sundhage's team arrived in Canada with a bit of apprehension. The Americans, having become somewhat complacent from years of uncontested success in the region, were stunned in a World Cup qualifier by host Mexico in November 2010, forcing them into a home-and-away playoff with Italy just to get for the World Cup. Also, the format for Olympic qualifying is such that everything hinges on one game - the do-or-die semifinals - regardless of how a team performs in the rest of the tournament.
Determined to take nothing for granted, the Americans had been full throttle for every game. They set a U.S. team record for goals in a game in a 14-0 win over the Dominican Republic, then nearly matched the feat in a 13-0 rout of Guatemala. Then came a 4-0 win a much anticipated rematch with Mexico to set up the semifinal against Costa Rica.
And even though the vital game didn't go quite as planned, the outcome was all that mattered.
"We," Sundhage said, smiling, "are going to London.
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