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Morgan and Wambach lead U.S. Women past Canada

Wambach v. Canada - Reuters

By CALEB SONNELAND

Despite both sides having punched their tickets to the 2012 London Olympics, bragging rights and a No. 1 seed were on the line when the United States Women clashed with Canada last night.

Thanks to the continued brilliance of Abby Wambach and young gun Alex Morgan, the United States trotted out a 4-0 victory to cap off what has largely been a pedestrian Olympic Qualifying.  The US Women outscored their opponents 38-0 throughout the entirety of the tournament.

Morgan finished the game having played a hand in every goal, with two goals and two assists while Wambach notched herself two goals with one assist.

Morgan opened up scoring early in the 5th minute after Wambach flicked the ball into her path to finish a left-footed chance for her first of the game.  Then, 12 minutes after the restart, she took a Lauren Chesney pass down the field before skipping past Canadian keeper Erin McLeod, spinning around and putting the ball home to make it 4-0.

Wambach, always a force up top, grabbed her two goals within five minutes of each other when, in the 24th minute, she headed home a Morgan cross.  Not long after, Morgan teed up Wambach after Carli Lloyd's shot hit the post for Wambach to tap in for a 3-0 lead.

The goals mean Wambach (131) moves up to No. 2 of the US and World all-time scoring lists, behind Mia Hamm (158).

The US Women are undefeated since losing to Japan in the final of the Women's World Cup last summer, outscoring opponents 43-2.

Here are some highlights from the game.

US post-game reaction.

Comments

  1. I think that’s a fair assessment, though IMO Leroux is already a bit ahead of Morgan. Morgan still strikes me as kind of raw. I may be wrong though, as I’ve only seen Leroux a couple of times.

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  2. Leroux will end up with more goals than Morgan when their careers are over, but right now Morgan is the more experienced (and complete) player.

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  3. Wambach has always had her limitations, but her many strengths far outweigh them. Keep in mind that she is 31 years old and is not what she was at age 24 (when she was a BEAST).

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  4. The team looked much better overall, than they did during the World Cup when they were winning on sheer determination, guts and cardio reserve.
    Naturally, as has been noted above, the competition in CONCACAF does not equal Sweden, Norway, Japan, Germany, or England – but they sure looked good v. Canada.
    Surgically efficient and clinical with their finishing.

    A job well done ladies. Congratulations. Outstanding. Strong work. Well done indeed.
    Have fun in Portugal at the Algarve Cup.
    The Olympics will be stupendous, marvelous and magical for our ladies, these the women of the US National Team.

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  6. I believe Leroux is up in coming, but Alex Morgan is much superior in technical ability and reading the game at this point… Alex can shoot from 20yds out with defenders on her, I have yet to see other girl with that kind of skill.

    PETEDE: Is Wabby all that great? Is Alex Morgan ever going to use her right foot? Are you kidding me?? Wabby is one of the greatest Women to have ever played the game.. sure she’s going to miss a few, it’s part of the game! But to discredit someone because of some misses is just ridiculous. You are not seeing the overall aspect of her game. Alex Morgan doesn’t need to use her right foot like a right footer doesn’t have to use her left foot for most of the game. It’s who she is as a player, she has used her right foot at times, but I prefer her left foot because that is her strong point. So again, what are you talking about? I wish Shea was a DEFENDER, but he’s a mid, so therefor he is not all that great… hhmm?

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  7. Canada has only lost to Mexico once in 30 or so matches. Canada is very used to being the bridesmaid in this relationship, as shown again last night.

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  8. How do you figure that? Wambach, Leroux, and Rodriguez all scored more goals in this tournament than Morgan did (as did non-forward Carli Lloyd). Morgan is dangerous for sure, but I think Leroux may be more talented.

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  9. The reason we dominate is because most countries just don’t take women’s soccer that seriously.

    I’m not saying that’s good or bad. It’s just the way it is.

    Look at the women. There are some great players, but look closely and they also have their deficits.

    Is Abby Wambach really THAT great of a soccer player? I see her miss a ton of easy chances, too. Can Alex Morgan use her right foot at all?

    Can Rapinoe really play possession soccer?

    As far as complete soccer players I see Carli Lloyd, Cheney, Rampone,and O’Reilly and then the rest seem to have one or two great attributes coupled with tremendous fitness and athleticism. (And Ali Krieger can do nothing wrong in all her loveliness)

    If the other countries took women’s soccer more seriously I think we’d have problems, too.

    But kudos to the women for hiring Sundhage who seems to have the right idea.

    But I love the team.

    Go US Ladies!

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  10. Well put. It would be charitable to say that the level of play of some women’s national teams in this region would be “pub” league. Not having any way to develop their skills or a professional league definitely hurts their ability to develop talent.

    In the US, we have women’s college soccer as well as a pro league to continue to develop the game. Not to mention a top notch national team program to help get the best out of the player pool. Thus, you get these blowouts on a regular basis.

    The men’s team will never have this sort of dominance until soccer gets to a point where it’s pulling in the best athletes on a regular basis. Even then, if our team is ever on par with an Argentina or Brazil, I’d still bet we’d have a difficult time in qualifying cause these small central american nations always play their best against us, and frankly, their teams keep getting better. They aren’t always consistent, but the level of play is much better than even 20 years ago.

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  11. before the grammer police arrives, *athletes

    Also, I am clarifying why the women’s team is better relative to their circumstances than the men’s team…not whining about the challenges the men’s team faces.

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  12. Not to belittle our women’s team, but they have a few advantages over the men’s team.

    1. Less competition from other professional sports for top atheletes.

    2. Weaker competition. Central America and the Caribbean aren’t exactly leading the pack when it comes to gender equality and women’s emancipation. I’m sure some of the women’s teams in CONCACAF don’t have nearly the resources afforded to their men’s teams. In contrast, USSF does just as much for the WNT as the MNT.

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  13. The quotes from the Canadian team after the highlights are telling. I sure wish the men’s team could dominante teams they are better than like the women do. That’s part of being a top notch club, beating and beating badly lesser teams.

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  14. If only we had an Alex Morgan Problem. We have trouble lining up two decent forwards unless we borrow from midfield.

    My comment being, a deficit the week before the World Cup is bad lack, a deficit now is a challenge. If we can’t fix RB/LB and F by Brazil it’s our own fault. Have someone trade the player to LAG and have Klinsi train them up in his spare time.

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  15. “But we would have advanced on goal difference anyway…..”

    All appearances are that it’s back to the USA and then Everyone Else. Mexico is waning and Canada is not what they once were, although they’ve passed Mexico for bridesmaid status.

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