2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- We're Going To London

It was a London or bust game contested against with a team they had never lost to. 

In this critical semifinal CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying match with a scrappy Costa Rica the two time defending Olympic champions had to work for their 3-0 win.  

They were clinging to a 1-0 halftime lead courtesy of a Tobin Heath goal in the 16th minute and the Ticas had two solid scoring chances to tie the game in the 20th minute and the 27th minute.  One was saved by Hope Solo while the other clanged off the crossbar. 

Costa Rica kept up the pressure in the second half and American fans in BC Place didn't get a chance to exhale until Carli Lloyd scored in the 72nd minute and Alex Morgan did so in the 89th minute to clinch their spot in London.

They'll meet Canada in the tournament final who clinched their spot in the Olympics with a 3-1 victory over Mexico in the other semifinal. .

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Another Crucial Showdown With Mexico

The Team USA women are 25-1-1 against our southern neighbors when it comes to playing soccer against Mexico.  

What's the lone loss?   It's one Team USA still hasn't forgotten.   It was a 2-1 Mexican win on November 10. 2010 during the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Cancun that not only clinched an automatic berth for them, but forced Team USA into the Third Place match vs Costa Rica and eventually a two leg playoff against Italy to become one of the last teams to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.  

FIFA number one ranked Team USA has been on a ruthlessly efficient mission so far to make certain that no such slip ups happen in this qualifying tournament for the London Games.  They know that unlike the World Cup. if they falter in qualifying, they'll be sitting at home watching the Olympic tournament on TV instead of attempting to threepeat as Olympic champions.

They face off at BC Place in a highly anticipated Group B match against Mexico to determine who wins the group and plays Group A runner up Costa Rica in Friday's knockout semifinals to determine the CONCACAF reps for London.   The Group B runner up will play host nation Canada, who knocked off Costa Rica 5-1 last night at BC Place.

Team USA has never lost a game on Canadian soil, are 8-0-0 when playing in domed stadiums, have going into this match a 10-0-1 record in CONCAFAF Olympic Qualifiers and have blistered the nets with 27 goals in this tournament.   But FIFA number 21 ranked Mexico has scored 11 goals of their own in group play and ain't 'scurred' of the mighty USA.  

So throw those stats out tonight.   The last three USA-Mexico matches they have been determined by one goal margins, and much is riding on this one.
 

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Another Double Digit Win

It was a good news, bad news kind of day for the FIFA number one ranked Team USA women as they prepared to play their second Group B match in the 2012 CONCAFAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Vancouver.

The bad news is that Ali Krieger is out for the London Games with tears in her right MCL and ACL ligaments after a reckless tackle from Leonela Mojica sidelined her during the USA's 14-0 victory over the Dominican Republic.

The good news is we may have found Team USA's future striker in 21 year old Canadian born Sydney Leroux.  

Leroux jogged on to the BC Place pitch as a second half sub to scattered boos from Canadian fans frustrated over her decision to play internationally for Team USA.   

Leroux made the most of her homecoming as she scored five goals and helped Team USA clinch a trip to the semifinals of this 2012 edition of the CONCAFAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament with a 13-0 demolition of Guatemala. 


Unlike Friday's game against the Dominican Republic, it took Abby Wambach a little longer to score the opening goal in this match. 

Wambach didn't do so until the 12th minute and followed it up with her second tally a mere three minutes later for a 2-0 USA lead. Ten minutes later Lauren Cheney scored to put the USA up 3-0 enroute to a 6-0 halftime lead. 

Amy Rodriguez in the 29th minute, Carli Lloyd in the 33rd minute and Lori Lindsey in the 34th minute were the other first half goal scorers.

Vancouver born Leroux's five goals were scored in the 48th, 50th, 57th, 70th and 87th minutes with Megan Rapinoe adding one in the 75th and Alex Morgan in the 83rd minute.

The win clinched a trip to the qualifying tournament semifinals for Team USA, stretched their CONCAFAF Olympic qualifying record to 10-0-1 and also kept their remarkable streak alive of never losing a game on Canadian soil.  It also means they lock up the Group B title with a win or draw against Mexico on Tuesday thanks to a ginormous +27 goal differential.  

FIFA number 21 ranked Mexico beat the Dominican Republic 7-0 to stay unbeaten in Group B and build their goal differential to +11.  It also sets up the much anticipated January 24 showdown between the two nations to determine who wins the group.

In Group A FIFA number 7 ranked Canada and Costa Rica have dominated with the host nation holding a +8 goal differential over Costa Rica's +4. 

They will battle each other later tonight to determine who wins Group A with  Canada clinching if they win or draw.  The second place team has to play the Group B champ in the January 27 knockout round semifinals.
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The surviving semifinal winners get the two CONCAFAF qualifying spots for the 2012 Olympic women's soccer tournament and play for the title on January 29.

Everybody else goes home and starts plotting and planning for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Qualifying and the 2016 Olympics.