U.S. women's national soccer team rolls past Canada

TORONTO - When the pregame hype finally subsided, and a day full of spectacle yielded to straightforward soccer, the United States women's national team left BMO Field having done what it came here to do: win another game.

Powered by a trio of spectacular breakaway goals in the second half - two from Alex Morgan and one from Sydney Leroux - the U.S. rolled past Canada, 3-0, in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 22,453.

"Having that pace up front is an unbelievable asset," U.S. coach Tom Sermanni said. "The Canadians defended very well for long parts of that game today, but at some stage of the game they were going to break free."

After years of high-profile duels with China, Germany, Brazil and Japan, the U.S. has quickly found a new rival across its northern border. Canada's rise in women's soccer - with the Americans as a role model - has returned North America to the center of the sport.

"I'm proud that this is a rivalry - not too long ago, it wasn't," U.S. star Abby Wambach said. "Not too long ago, these games weren't ones that we would look forward to, and now they are."

No game exemplified that dynamic more than last year's memorable clash in the semifinals of the Olympics. Sunday's meeting was the first between the U.S. and Canada since then, and it created an enormous amount of buzz among Canadian fans and media.

Across Toronto and beyond, Sunday's game was seen as a chance to extract a measure of revenge for the U.S.' win last summer. Even the Canadian Soccer Association billed the affair as "The Rematch," with no further explanation necessary.

BMO Field was packed to the walls with the largest crowd ever to see a soccer game in the stadium. The fans produced a great atmosphere, but the game gave them little to cheer about.

The first half was scoreless, but not too cagey. Both teams knew each other well enough to not need to waste any time figuring the other side out.

Perhaps that's why both defenses largely shut down the game's biggest attacking stars: Canada's Christine Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi, and the U.S.' Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan.

There were plenty of fair tackles, but nothing too aggressive. That allowed each team a good share of ball possession. Carli Lloyd played traffic cop in the center of midfield for the U.S., and delivered a composed performance alongside Lauren Cheney.

It was Lloyd's first game back with the national team since breaking a bone in her left shoulder this past March. The Delran, N.J., native didn't miss a beat.

"I'm fully confident that I can play attacking midfield and holding midfield," she said. "Games like those are a little tough - it requires grit and a lot of tackling, just trying to stay in the middle and anchor."

Behind Lloyd, a mostly young U.S. back line kept Canada from recording even one shot on goal. Crystal Dunn, Whitney Engen, Christie Rampone and Ali Krieger were ably marshaled by goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, who started while Hope Solo recovers from a wrist injury.

Barnhart drew a fair amount of attention from the Canadian fans behind her net, though it wasn't necessarily her fault. The signature moment from last summer's Olympic clash came when Norwegian referee Christina Pedersen gave a foul against Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod for time-wasting with her team holding a lead late in the second half.

Goalkeepers aren't supposed to keep the ball for more than six seconds, and Wambach had pointed out to Pedersen that McLeod was taking more than the allowed time.

Pedersen blew the whistle on McLeod in the minute, which led to an indirect free kick that produced a game-tying penalty kick for the U.S.

With memories of that sequence still fresh Sunday, the crowd counted aloud whenever Barnhart picked up the ball.

They may not have counted exact seconds every time, but the Gilbertsville, Pa., native wasn't affected. She knew the treatment was coming, and was able to shrug it off.

"I didn't even notice the counting much at first - I think it freaked out my teammates more than me," Barnhart said. "I knew they were counting really fast, and I was just taking my time to do what I do."

As the second half progressed, the game started to open up. The U.S. gradually found holes in Canada's five-player midfield, and in the 70th minute, Morgan broke through. Wambach sprung her with a through ball from the left flank, and Morgan shook off Canada's Emily Zurrer before firing past McLeod to the far post.

Barely two minutes later, Morgan doubled the Americans' lead with a near carbon-copy of her first goal. This time, Tobin Heath delivered the assist as Morgan sprinted free and beat McLeod to the very same corner.

"Both times I saw McLeod hugging the [near] post a little bit," Morgan said. "I practice that shot all the time, and I've gone through it in my head... I knew I just had to hit it hard and low."

If the goals looked simple to fans watching on TV and in the stands, in reality they were nothing of the sort.

"She made them look easier than they were," Sermanni said. "Those were terrific finishes."

McLeod acknowledged that she was fairly beaten by one of the world's elite scorers in Morgan.

"She's got the fastest release of the ball I've ever seen from any woman," McLeod said. "They were two phenomenal finishes - it's hard to swallow more than one in the game, but props to her."

Leroux replaced Heath in the 74th minute, and capped off the day's scoring in the 93rd minute. Lloyd played a pass from the center of the park to Wambach, who hit a first-touch ball as Leroux got behind the back line. Leroux rounded McLeod and placed her shot home from close range.

The 23-year-old is a lightning rod in Canadian soccer circles. She was born in Surrey, B.C., but chose to play internationally for the U.S. after crossing the border prior to college.

Leroux has taken a fair amount of abuse through social media because of that, and she was booed every time she touched the ball Sunday. If it was any consolation, Leroux was given a yellow card for celebrating excessively in referee Queztalli Alvarado's judgment.

But Leroux also has never been afraid to speak her own mind, and she did so in a unique way after scoring. She grabbed the badge on her jersey, showing it off in the manner of a basketball player popping a jersey, and put a finger to her lips to shush the crowd.

"That stuff gets me fired up," Leroux said of being booed. "I think I dealt with it pretty well - I scored a goal and it made me that much happier.

By the time she was done celebrating, all the noise that remained came from the pockets of Americans in BMO Field's upper rows.

Leroux expressed a hope that Canadian fans will eventually drop their angst over her decision to switch sides.

"It's been quite a few years, and how many Americans do you have on Canada?" Leroux said. "I don't think there's any issue when Canada comes to the U.S., [and] I don't think there would be a problem."

Among the Americans-turned-Canadians that Leroux referred to is Wisconsin native Lauren Sesselman, a veteran defender who played all 90 minutes of Sunday's game. More recently, Los Angeles native Rachel Quon decided just a few weeks ago to play for Canada instead of the U.S.

Indeed, players across the globe switch nationalities when it suits them, from the United States to Italy to Qatar. Canada coach John Herdman is comfortable with that, and said it's time to to move on from the Leroux controversy.

"I think we've just got to let it go, let her enjoy her time in the U.S., and respect her as a player," he said.

At the end of the day, the biggest statement of all came right where the United States intended to deliver it: on the field.

Sunday's game served as the unofficial start of the countdown to the 2015 World Cup, which Canada will host. The U.S.' convincing win showed that Morgan, Leroux and company intend to remain the world's top team when they come north again in two years.