US earns Olympic berth with 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago

The Canadian women’s soccer team secured a third straight Olympic berth after they picked up a 3-1 win over Costa Rica on Friday night. Pugh started and made an impact early with an assist on Tobin Heath’s opening goal of the match in the 12th minute.

Canada was in the driver’s seat through the first half but, attacking-wise, not much but the goal separated the Canucks from Costa Rica.

They will play either the United States or Trinidad and Tobago, who were scheduled to play later on Friday.

The victor of tonight’s CONCACAF semifinal women’s soccer game will automatically earn a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics. But first they must get past weak semifinal opponents Friday in Houston, where Canada plays Costa Rica and the US meets Trinidad and Tobago (NBCSN, 5:30 p.m. PST).

With a spot in Rio booked, which will be the sixth straight trip to the Olympics for the USWNT, the usa will next battle Canada on Sunday in the qualifying championship.

After cruising through the group stage by scoring 16 goals and allowing zero, that fantastic form carried over into the semis against a team that had won all three of its group stage matches. Morgan scored in the 30th, 71st, and 73rd minutes to capture her third career hat trick.

“Hopefully (we can put) position ourselves to defend our Olympic bronze medal this summer in Rio”, Herdman said, adding: “We had a strong group of players to select from, which made the final selection extremely challenging, but we have put together a team that will go out there and get the job done, which is simply to make this country proud by qualifying for Rio 2016″.

Raquel Rodríguez scored twice as Costa Rica stunned Mexico at the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) women’s Olympic qualification tournament to keep their Rio 2016 hopes alive.

Having employed a side half-full of young, internationally inexperienced players this month to see out CONCACAF’s qualifying process, Herdman has decisions to make. “They tested us like no team has tested us so far”.

Along with midfielder Shirley Cruz, a professional player at Paris Saint-Germain in the women’s French first division league, Rodriguez has been able to raise the level of the entire Costa Rica women’s team.

Herdman calls Costa Rica a well-organized team that has grown together. I think both teams are going to go at one another, so it should be really good.

Carli Lloyd, playing on the home field of her NWSL team, the Houston Dash, scored on a header in the 43rd minute for her 23rd goal in the team’s last 18 games.

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.