SOCCER : 10-0 Victory Helps U.S. Women Qualify
The United States women’s national soccer team became the first to qualify for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Championship in Sweden when it overwhelmed Jamaica, 10-0, in Montreal on Friday evening.
The victory improved the Americans’ record to 3-0 in the CONCACAF regional qualifying tournament and assured the defending world champions of finishing no worse than second in the five-nation tournament.
Canada, which defeated Trinidad & Tobago, 5-0, later Friday, also qualified for the world championship, to be held in Stockholm and four neighboring cities next June.
The teams play Sunday night in the tournament’s final game, with the CONCACAF championship and an all-important world championship top-seeding on the line.
Although the United States has outscored its first three opponents, 30-1, striker Michelle Akers-Stahl said it has not been as easy as the previous qualifying tournament in Haiti in 1991 when the United States won its four matches by a combined 49-0 score.
“This was a different atmosphere than in Haiti in 1991,” said Akers-Stahl, who was the tournament’s leading scorer when the United States won the world championship in China in 1991.
“It was not as much of a cake-walk as it may have appeared. The teams we faced in this qualifying tournament were much stronger and more physical. We had to work for the goals we scored.”
Akers-Stahl netted two goals against the Jamaicans at Claude Robillard Stadium on Friday, as did Christine Lilly and team captain Carla Overbeck. The other four U.S. goals were scored by Tiffany Roberts, Carin Gabarra, Sarah Rafanelli and Tiffany Milbrett.
Roberts, a 17-year-old midfielder from Corondolet High in Concord, Calif., scored the tournament’s fastest goal so far when she beat Jamaican goalkeeper Renee Williamson with a right-foot shot after 47 seconds.
From then on, the Jamaican penalty area resembled a shooting gallery as the U.S. players fired from all angles. The United States led, 6-0, at halftime.
Why are the Americans so overpowering within the region? Tony DiCicco, who takes over as coach from Anson Dorrance on Monday, believes it has to do with the caliber of competition.
“It’s probably because our preparation involves teams like Germany and China and Norway and Sweden and Italy,” he said. “We’ve played them all in the last year at least once or twice.
“I don’t think, with the exception of Canada, that the other countries in the region are getting the chance to play against top teams like that, or even the tier below the top.”
In addition, the thriving women’s college and high school soccer programs give the U.S. team a greater talent pool from which to draw.
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The U.S. under-20 national team plays El Salvador in Puerto Cortes, Honduras tonight in its second match in the CONCACAF regional qualifying tournament for the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria.
The U.S. team, which is playing in Group C alongside Guyana, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago, defeated Guyana, 4-1, in its opening match Thursday night.
The Americans took a 2-0 first-half lead on goals by Richard Kotdchau of George Mason University and Wade Barrett of William and Mary, before Guyana cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 60th minute.
Late goals by Leo Cullen of the University of Maryland and Chris Klein of Indiana sealed the U.S. victory.
The tournament, which continues through Aug. 30, also includes Canada, Belize, Honduras and Martinique in Group A and Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Jamaica in Group B.
The winner of each group and the best second-place team advances to a round-robin second round, from which the winner and runner-up qualify for the world championship in Nigeria on March 11-26.
