No goals for hosts in final
Both teams in 2012 Games
VANCOUVER A record crowd showed up Sunday at BC Place hoping to cheer the Canadian women’s soccer team to its first win over the United States in nearly 11 years. Maybe next time. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan scored two goals each to lead the U.S. to a dominant 4-0 win over Canada in the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament final.
Fortunately for Canada, both teams already booked their tickets to London 2012 with their semifinal wins on Friday so the loss only means the U.S. gets a higher seeding in the Olympic tournament.
The Americans put on a clinic in front of 25,427 fans, showing why they are the topranked team in the world — six spots ahead of Canada.
Canadian coach John Herdman said the Americans’ superior physical play and pace were too much to overcome.
“THERE’S A BIT OF WORK TO BE DONE.”
JOHN HERDMAN
“There’s a bit of work to be done on the physical side,” he said. “When they have worldclass players with world-class speed, it’s a problem.”
Herdman stressed his team still has six months to close the gap before the Olympics.
“We’ve got a real talent pool here,” he said. “I wouldn’t write off this team moving forward.”
Morgan silenced the boisterous pro-canada crowd early when she ran onto a Wambach flick, outfought Canadian defender Candace Chapman and beat goalkeeper Erin Mcleod cleanly with a low 10-yard shot.
The Wambach-morgan tandem struck again twice before halftime as Canadian defenders couldn’t handle the American squad’s pace and strength.
Wambach headed home a Morgan cross in the 24th minute and then buried a Morgan pass in the Canadian box four minutes later to essentially put the game away for the U.S.