It’s a big match on Tuesday night in British Columbia for the United States women’s soccer team as they face Mexico in qualifying for this summer’s London Olympic tournament. Place your soccer bets at Bovada.
The United States routed Guatemala 13-0 Sunday to clinch a berth in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the Olympics. Vancouver native Sydney Leroux led the way with five goals. Leroux’s goals came in the 48th, 51st, 57th, 70th and 87th minutes. She is the only member of the roster who didn’t play for the U.S. in last year’s World Cup. The goals were Leroux’s first five for the senior national team after finishing her Under-20 career as the USA’s all-time leading international scorer for that age level. She was born and raised in Vancouver area but has an American father and has opted to play for the U.S. over Canada.
And Abby Wambach, who was replaced by Leroux at halftime, moved into third on the career goals list for women’s international soccer with 129, ahead of Germany’s Birgit Prinz (128) and behind only Mia Hamm (158) and Kristine Lilly (130). The only active player in the 31-year-old forward’s range is Canada’s Christine Sinclair with 125 — including five in this tournament.
After scoring a team-record 14 goals in their opening match on Jan. 20 against the Dominican Republic, the U.S. found the net 13 more times to set a U.S. women’s record of 27 over a two-game stretch. That topped the previous mark of 24 goals in 1991 when the U.S. topped Mexico and Martinique by 12-0 margins on April 20 and 22 of that year. The 13 goals were the second-most scored in a game by the U.S., behind only Friday’s result against the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. result, combined with Mexico’s 7-0 victory against the Dominican Republic in the other Group B game of the evening, clinched semifinal places for both teams. The U.S. and Mexico will meet for the group title at 10:30 p.m. ET The match will be televised live on Universal Sports Network and streamed live on universalsports.com and concacaf.com.
The USA, which holds a plus-15 goal differential over its southern neighbors heading into the final group match, needs a win or a draw against Mexico to win Group B and face the second-place team from Group A for a berth to the Olympics.
It was at the semifinal stage that the Americans stumbled against Mexico in 2010, forcing the U.S., the top-ranked team in the world, into a playoff just to get into the World Cup in Germany.
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