U.S. tunes up for Olympic qualifying semifinal with 10-0 rout of Puerto Rico
That there would be a lot of goals, and that it would be awfully lopsided, seemed to be a given going into the game. Puerto Rico, after all, had given up a total of 15 goals in losses to Mexico and Costa Rica, both of whom had been dominated by the world champion United States in their first two games of the Olympic qualifying tournament. So it was hardly surprising that the Americans walked off the field in Frisco, Texas with a 10-0 win on Monday.
[ Slideshow: U.S. women's national team vs. Puerto Rico in pictures ]
On paper, the game meant nothing. The U.S. had already clinched Group A. And Puerto Rico, which has a national team in spite of not actually being a sovereign nation – as plenty of territories do in international soccer – had already been eliminated.
The score, in truth, didn't much matter either. The Puerto Ricans, for all their toil, are such a weak national team that the Americans pretty much did as they pleased. More relevant, however, was whether the USA could remain sharp. And whether the eight reserves plugged into the lineup as head coach Jill Ellis cycled through the back end of her roster, could step in and deliver up to the national team's lofty standards.
Those objectives were all accomplished, and the Yanks move on to Friday's all-or-nothing semifinal for a spot in Rio de Janeiro this summer knowing that the drop-off from the starters to the reserves is fairly small.
It took the 17-year-old Mallory just six minutes to blast past her defender on the left and square the ball for Crystal Dunn, who turned away from her defender and slipped her finish by the goalkeeper for the first of her five goals on the night.
Pugh then looked like she tripped over her own feet in the Puerto Rican box but was awarded a penalty anyway – the second time the Americans were apparently given a wrongful spot-kick in two games. Captain Carli Lloyd deposited the ball in off the underside of the cross bar.
Puerto Rico's embattled goalie Karly Gustafson dropped Jaelene Hinkle's cross. After a scramble, Dunn popped the ball into the empty net.
Before halftime, Kelly O'Hara scored one of the prettiest goals of the night, as Puerto Rico persisted in its refusal to produce any kind of offence. Lloyd dispatched Stephanie McCaffrey up the right, who squared for O'Hara. She dinked the ball home artfully, with a perfectly executed back-heel finish.
The fifth, on the hour, was an own goal on a strong dribble by Pugh through the middle.
Then, seconds later, Dunn got way too much room to shoot from outside the box and slotted it in at the far post.
Christen Press got the USA's third goal in less than two minutes with a well-placed rip from distance.
Dunn got her fourth on a terrific team goal. The Americans pinged passes around the box until Dunn had an open shot from Meghan Klingenberg's cross.
And Dunn finished her five-goal night – tying a U.S. women's national team record for most goals in a single game – with a deft touch one-on-one with Gustafson.
In injury time, Sam Mewis finally converted one of her many chances to run the score up to double digits.
This was all well and good. But the game that really matters comes Friday.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
