USA women’s soccer team qualifies for Olympics

Morgan’s goal 12 seconds into the match against Costa Rica (she scored again in the second half) was the earliest in U.S. WNT history (she also has the latest, scoring after 122 minutes and 22 seconds against Canada in the semifinal of the 2012 Olympics).

“We actually talked about it in our very first camp in 2016 that no team has done that”, Ellis said.

Alex Morgan had a hat trick, and the US women’s national team qualified for the 2016 Olympics with a convincing 5-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Friday. Canada earned the region’s other Olympic berth with a 3-1 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals.

It is the third straight trip to the Olympics for the 11th-ranked Canadians, who will face the United States on Sunday in the tournament’s final match.

The Americans went 3-0 with a 16-0 goal difference in the group stage of the eight-team qualification tournament. The average age of the qualifying team is 25, down from the 29.5-year average of the team that won the World Cup in Canada last summer.

The United States will learn their Olympic group opponents in April. “They’re a really good first-half team but I think as the game wears on they get a little more unorganized. I think that they want to be the best and they want to beat the Americans”, Solo said.

USA coach Jill Ellis gave starts to 17-year-old Mallory Pugh and 21-year-old Lindsey Horan, and each was terrific, with Pugh terrorizing the left wing and Horan owning the central midfield.

BERLIN (AP) – Eintracht Frankfurt did little to allay its Bundesliga relegation fears with a scoreless draw at home to Hamburger SV on Friday. Sinclair scored twice. The Canadian captain ranks second on the global career list for most goals with 161, behind Abby Wambach’s 184. I think from coming out of the World Cup and turning the corner, I think the games against Brazil and the Victory Tour I think you’re starting to see Alex strong and confident.

The tie was over as a contest on the stroke of half-time when goalkeeper Kimika Forbes allowed a header from Carli Lloyd, the FIFA World Player of the Year, to slip through her grasp.

Three of tonight’s starters (Heath, Horan and Klingenberg) are members of the Portland Thorns of the NWSL. It was Pugh’s ball into the box that Tobin Heath finished for the first USA goal, and Pugh was able to get to some balls that she had no business reaching.

“I was so mentally focused and prepared”, said Solo, who extended her US shutouts record to 94.

“I was hoping that once we went up by a couple of goals, they would come at us, that they would press us and I would be more involved in the game”.

The U.S. vs. Canada finale here on Sunday may seem a bit like an afterthought, given the relief both North American sides expressed after their clinching wins in the semis.