2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying- It's Canada And The USA To Rio!

The 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament has been going on in Texas since February 10 to determine who gets the two Rio Olympic soccer tournament slots allotted to CONCACAF.

The scene has shifted to Houston for the knockout rounds of the tournament, with the semifinals being played last night at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Group B winner Canada faced off against Group A runner up Costa Rica for one of the two Olympic slots, and thanks to their captain Christine Sinclair's two goals in the 17th and 51st minutes punched their ticket to Rio with a 3-1 win.

Costa Rica's Raquel Rodriguez added one from the penalty spot to cut the Canadian lead down to 2-1 in the 71st minute, but Deanne Rose scored in the 86th minute to put Canada comfortably back in front by two goals and secure their spot in the tournament finals on Sunday.

Two hours later it was the USA facing off against the surprise runners up of Group B in the Women Soca Warriors of Trinidad and Tobago, who clinched their spot in the knockout round with a 5-1 win over Guyana on February 16.

But playing Guyana and the world champion USA squad are two different tasks, and 12 minutes into the match Tobin Heath scored to put the world champs up 1-0.   Alex Morgan score the first of her three goals in the 30th minute to put the USA up 2-0, and Carli Lloyd scored in the 43rd minute to send the USA to the locker room at BBVA Compass Stadium with a 3-0 halftime lead.

Morgan completed her 3rd international hat trick with goals in the 71st and 73rd minutes to send the USA to the finals of this qualifying tournament on Sunday against Canada with the second CONCACAF Olympic qualifying spot nailed down.

It is the sixth consecutive time that the USA women's team has qualified for the Olympics, and they will be seeking their fifth straight Olympic title when they do get to Rio.

On Sunday the USA an Canada clash for the CONCACAF Qualifying tournament title in a game in which nothing is on the line but pride and a trophy.

The real fight will be starting on August 3 when the women's Olympic soccer tournament kicks off.

 

The Reggae Girlz Fail To Qualify For 2015 Women's World Cup

After their heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Costa Rica after fighting back to tie the match on a Shakira Duncan goal in the 77th minute, the Reggae Girlz found themselves in win or go home territory in their quest to qualify for the 2015 Women's World Cup 


Since Costa Rica had already clinched Group B with 6 points and the wins over both Mexico and Jamaica, both teams were playing for the Group B runner up spot and a semifinal date with FIFA world number one ranked Team USA.

Mexico and Jamaica came into the game at RFK Stadium with a win and a loss in group play and 3 points.  Because Mexico scored 10 goals on Martinique in their October 18 match with them while Jamaica scored a 6-0 win with Martinique back on the 16th,  they entered this final group match with a +9 goal differential to Jamaica's +5.  That meant that if both teams finished the game with a draw, Mexico would advance.

The Reggae Girlz struck hard and struck first with Donna-Kay Henry's third goal of the tournament in the 14th minute.  It was a  rocket fired just under the crossbar inside the far post from the right side of the box to take the early 1-0 lead.   But Mexico struck back with a Sandra Mayor goal in the 29th minute to send to match to halftime drawn at 1-1.

Mexico broke Jamaica's hearts in the 59th minute with the first of Veronica Corral's two second half goals.   She added an insurance goal in the 79th minute for the 3-1 win that allowed Mexico to finish 2-1 in Group B play while the Reggae Girlz finished 1-2.  

Jamaica came close, but dropping that match with Costa Rica turned out to be the death blow to their effort to become the first Caribbean based women's team to qualify for the Women's World Cup.

Hopefully the Reggae Girlz will get a chance to do so again in 2019, and the Jamaican Football Federation and some corporate sponsors step up with the funding.  

Let's hope they get enough funding so they can play the friendly matches they need against the international women's soccer powers to strengthen their team and make that World Cup dream a reality.

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- Clean Sheet To Title

The highly anticipated showdown between the USA and Canada for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament championship last night had a disappointing result for much of the record pro-Canadian sellout crowd of 25,427 at BC Place Stadium.

It was another dominating day at the office for Team USA, another USA win on Canadian soil and their third straight CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament title with the 4-0 win.

It didn't take Team USA long to get on the scoreboard as Alex Morgan scored her first goal of the evening only four minutes into the first half.  Abby Wambach followed it up with a pair of goals in the 24th and 28th minutes to propel the FIFA number one ranked squad to a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead.  Morgan contributed another goal in the 56th minute as the USA kept up the pressure on their northern neighbors all night.    

The win allowed the USA to complete this CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament without giving up a goal while blistering opposing nets 38 times in five matches.  It also increased their record to 5-0-1 in matches played against Canada on their side of the border.

Shoot, save some of that firepower for London.  

Can't wait until the chase for the Olympic threepeat starts in July..

2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- On To The Semis

FIFA number one ranked Team USA went into this marquee soccer matchup against our southern neighbors with a lot on the line and much to prove. 

In addition to keeping their hopes for an Olympic threepeat alive, they came into this match against Mexico with the Group B title on the line. 

They also wanted to prove that Mexico's 2-1 upset win on November 10, 2010 in Cancun was just a bad day at the CONCACAF qualifying office.  

They did so in convincing fashion as Carli Lloyd scored the first of her three goals in this crucial match in the 7th minute and Heather O'Reilly followed up with another one a minute later to stake the USA to a 2-0 halftime lead they never relinquished.  

Any hope that Mexico had coming out of the locker room of getting back into the match died with Lloyd's second goal in the 57th minute that effectively sealed it.  She completed the hat trick in the 86th minute on a set piece play.

With the 4-0 win the USA clinched the Group B title while unapologetically piling up a +31 goal differential to do so.  They now reap the rewards of topping the group with a Friday semifinal matchup with FIFA number 41 ranked Group B runner up Costa Rica and a trip to London on the line.

The other semifinal at BC Place Stadium will feature the FIFA seventh ranked host Canadians and winners of Group A playing Mexico for the other CONCACAF Olympic berth.   

The anti-climactic tournament final will be played on Sunday.   

The USA women are now 11-0-1 in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, 26-1-1 against Mexico, still has never lost a match on Canadian soil and are now 9-0-0 when playing in a domed stadium.  

But the most important game and streak for Team USA to maintain right now is the one that happens in the semifinals Friday against Costa Rica.

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.