Saturday, January 28, 2012

London Calling - USA Women's Soccer Team Qualifies for the Olympics

After cruising through their first three games of the Olympic Qualifying tournament, the U.S. was probably due for a speed bump. Costa Rica, a team that the U.S. had never lost to, offered a surprising amount of resistance and if not for some stellar goalkeeping from Hope Solo and a fortunate deflection off the post, the U.S. could have themselves tied, or even behind late in the match. As it was, Tobin Heath's early goal stood up and the U.S. would add two more late goals from Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan giving them the 3-0 victory and guaranteeing them a spot in London this summer.
Photo Credit: espn.go.com


The U.S. will now advance to the finals on Sunday where they'll face rival Canada in a match that outside of pride will count for very little. This will be a good opportunity for the U.S. to rest some of its nicked up starters, but we'll see how Coach Pia Sundhage plays it. The U.S. faced Canada three times in 2011 winning twice and drawing once. Canada defeated Mexico 3-1 in the other semifinal. Canada's all-time leading scorer Christine Sinclair led the way with a pair of goals and has scored 9 times so far in the tournament.

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