U.S. still has Canada’s number
United States 3 Canada 0
The U.S. continued its mastery over Canada in women’s soccer on Sunday, winning the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying championship 3-0 on second-half goals by Lynn Williams, Lindsey Horan and Megan Rapinoe.
Canada faded as the game wore on and the breakthrough came in the 60th minute after Jayde Riviere’s attempted clearance went to Williams, who hammered a shot high into the far corner. Horan made it 2-0 in the 71st minute, using a neat touch to beat two defenders and then put the ball in the corner.
With Canada pressing for a goal, substitute Rapinoe went in alone in the 87th minute and beat Stephanie Labbé.
The North American rivals have met 60 times in all competitions, with the U.S. holding a whopping 50-3-7 advantage. Canada has not beaten the U.S. since the 2001 Algarve Cup, when Charmaine Hooper scored twice and Christine Sinclair once in a 3-0 win. The Canadian women have gone 0-29-6 head to head since, but have tied two of the last six meetings.
Eighth-ranked Canada has finished runner-up to the U.S. at the last four CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournaments and the top-ranked Americans have dominated over the years, compiling a 230-1 record while outscoring the opposition 122-3.
Bragging rights were all that was on the line Sunday at Dignity Health Sports Park. Both teams had qualified for the Olympics with semifinal wins Friday over Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively.
The rivals arrived in the final with 4-0-0 tournament records. Neither had conceded a goal.
Rebecca Quinn and the 19year-old Riviere were added to the Canadian starting 11 with Allysha Chapman and Jordyn Huitema moving to the bench.
The U.S. made six changes with Rapinoe and captain Carli Lloyd among those moving to the bench.
Canadian centre back Kadeisha Buchanan, a 24-year-old who plays in France for Lyon, captained the team and earned her 100th cap.
The Canadian women won bronze at the last two Olympics and exited in the quarterfinals in 2008 in Beijing. Canada failed to qualify for the 2004 Games, beaten by Mexico in qualifying. The Canadian women also missed out on the 1996 and 2000 Games, when the U.S. was the lone CONCACAF representative in the eight-team field.
Brazil, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the U.S. have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, joining host Japan in the 12country field. Seven Asian teams are still in the running with two to advance from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Myanmar, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.