Rodriguez nets five for U. S. in mismatch
Second- half sub fills Dominican Republic net in a 14- 0 record- setting, Olympic qualifying rout
When the top- ranked women’s soccer team on the planet plays No. 88, it can get ugly.
How ugly? Try USA 14, Dominican Republic 0.
The U. S. began its campaign for a berth in the 2012 Olympics by thrashing the Caribbean side Friday in the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualifying tournament at BC Place.
Second- half substitute Amy Rodriguez was a scoring machine, clinically burying five goals in her first 30 minutes of play — the most ever scored by one player in an entire CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.
Her incredible feat tied the U. S. women’s record for most goals in one international game and the team total of 14 beats the previous record of 12 goals the U. S. women scored against Mexico and Martinique in 1991.
Rodriguez couldn’t believe her strike rate.
“I felt really strong today and I’m glad we could open the tournament with a big bang,” she said. “We definitely had to work hard against these girls because they didn’t give up and they put up a great fight. Fourteen goals doesn’t just happen by walking the ball into the net.”
Things went well for Dominican Republic until the referee blew the opening whistle and U. S. star forward Abby Wambach buried a header behind Dominican goalkeeper Heidy Salazar 37 seconds into the match.
There’s no mercy rule in soccer but U. S. coach Pia Sundhage took Wambach out of the game at halftime after she had scored twice, hit two posts and helped her side build a 7- 0 halftime lead.
The U. S. had a three- goal lead after six minutes and by that point, it was just a matter of how long it would take the Americans to get to double- digits. It took 58 minutes.
Heather O’reilly scored a hat trick, including a long solo effort where she darted through a non- existent Dominican back line. By the second half, the crowd roared whenever a Dominican player managed to carry the ball into the U. S. end. It didn’t happen often.
Wambach said her team had to keep pushing for goals late in the game because goal differential could be a factor later in the tournament.
“We want to win our group stage and to do that, it might come down to goal differential so we needed to take care of business in the second half,” she said. “You can put your foot on the ball and stop playing or you can respect the game, respect your opponents and keep playing soccer.”
U. S. goalkeeper Hope Solo said you have to put your best effort forward in qualifying.
“[ Dominican Republic] has a ways to go so hopefully we enlighten them and they continue to put money into their federation and continue to grow women’s soccer,” she said.
Sundhage rejected criticism that her players celebrated goals too much after building a massive lead.
“When we score a goal, I’m happy and I use my body language to tell everybody I’m happy and proud,” she said. “I really want to respect opponents. I’m a happy person and I hope that’s contagious.”
For the record, other U. S. goals were scored by Carli Lloyd, Lauren Cheney, Tobin Heath and Rachel Buehler.
The U. S. also set a record for the most goals ever scored in a single Olympic qualifying tournament match. But the victory might have come at a cost as American defender Ali Krieger left the game in the first half and was on crutches after the game after suffering an apparent knee injury.
SIDE KICKS: Mexican captain Maribel Dominguez scored three goals Friday to lead Mexico to an easy 5- 0 win over Guatemala in the opening game of Group B play. Dinora Garza and Marylin Diaz also scored for Mexico.