The US and Canadian women’s national teams were both already bound for the London Olympics when they kicked off Sunday night in Vancouver, but they still had some continental bragging rights to decide.
The Americans took that honor in decisive fashion, getting two goals each from strikers Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach en route to a decisive 4-0 win over Canada in the final of CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying at BC Place. University of Portland alum Megan Rapinoe played the full 90' for the Yanks while fellow former Pilots Christine Sinclair played the full match and captained the Canadian side while teammate Sophie Schmidt played 61'.
How dominant were the Americans in the tournament? The one-sided final ended a run that saw head coach Pia Sundhage’s team outscore their opponents 38-0 over five matches while clinching a berth in the Summer Olympics.
Morgan gave the US the lead from the get-go, finishing off an early left-footed chance off a flick header from striker Abby Wambach in the fourth minute.
Wambach chipped in with a goal of her own midway through the first half when she pounced on a point-blank header from a Morgan cross, then added another by cleaning up a Carli Lloyd shot that caromed off the post in the 29th minute. Morgan got the assist on that goal as well, dishing the ball to Wambach after Lloyd’s shot bounced back into play.
Morgan added her second goal in the 57th minute, finishing off a feed from Lauren Cheney.
The Americans are now unbeaten in their last eight games (6-0-2) since losing in a shootout to Japan in the Women’s World Cup final last summer, and have outscored their opponents 43-2 in that time.
