Canada head coach John Herdman believes that his team is in a good place heading into Friday’s CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship semifinal against Costa Rica with a berth to the 2016 Olympic Games and a spot in Sunday’s final at stake.
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The World Cup champions, ranked No. 1 world, will seek their fourth straight Olympic gold medal and fifth overall.
Morgan’s hat trick, the third of her career, highlighted the United States’ 5-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Friday night in the semifinal round of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.
It was mission accomplished for 11th-ranked Canada who will play Sunday for CONCACAF bragging rights. She also orchestrated a goal, hitting the far-post service that led to Alex Morgan’s first strike.
In the early game, Sinclair was the star of the show for Canada, opening the scoring in the 18th minute before adding a stunning second goal in the 52nd minute. Christie Rampone and Megan Rapinoe are injured, and Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux are pregnant and will miss the Olympics. Ellis chose to sit Dunn, who had five goals in the Americans’ previous game, a 10-0 victory over Puerto Rico.
“I was so mentally focused and prepared”, said Solo, who extended her US shutouts record to 94. Lloyd has 86 goals for her career.
Pugh will continue to play for the U-20 national team – the World Cup for that level of soccer is in November. “I’m proud of the players”. Don’t think Canada has forgotten it lost that game too. “So, I don’t think it’s necessarily the most prettiest of games when we play Canada, but hopefully with this new group of players, we’ll find a way around that, we’ll find a way around their kind of American football style of play”. “We were the number two defensive team in the World Cup so I think it’s a good testament to how good our defence is”.
“It’s the final of a CONCACAF tournament and we get to play the USA”, midfielder Sophie Schmidt told Sportsnet prior to the team’s training session on Saturday. Herdman said both his iconic captain and the youngsters breaking into the scene deserved credit for Friday’s result.
Players who have gotten some time in this tournament and deserve to get more are Kelley O’Hara, Christen Press, and Crystal Dunn.
Their breakthrough came in the 12th minute of their semi-final clash at Houston’s BBVA Compass Stadium, with a low cross from Mallory Pugh alluded the Trinidad defence, with right winger Tobin Heath applying a composed finish from the edge of the box. Against Costa Rica, the team proved it is attacking with newfound prowess, putting the ball in the back on the net on 50 per cent of its shots on goal. “And I thought we brought a pretty calm performance, executed the game plan, got the three goals we needed, got the win”.
It’s what these girls were really looking forward to coming in here. But for some off finishing and some big blocks by T&T GK Kimika Forbes, the United States easily could have gone into the second half up by five or six, instead of the three they did score.
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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: The Soca Warriors have come a long way since they arrived in the United States for World Cup qualifying in 2014 with barely enough money for food.
