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Win over New Zealand points U.S. women toward their golden goal

USA's Carli Lloyd (10) and New Zealand's Abby Erceg battle for the ball in the first half in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Not far from this provincial capital 215 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, South America’s first significant deposits of gold were found lying along the banks of the rivers flowing from some of Brazil’s highest mountains.

The deposits were so large and visible, all miners had to do was bend over and pick them up. And when word got out, nearly a million people flocked to the region in what became the world’s first gold rush.

How appropriate, then, that three centuries later the U.S. women’s soccer team should come here on a gold rush of its own, a journey it began Wednesday with a solid, if occasionally sloppy, 2-0 win over New Zealand behind goals from Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan.

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“The first game, there’s always going to be some nerves,” U.S. Coach Jill Ellis said. “I haven’t seen, to date, an exceptional first game from most teams because you’re settling in, you’re dealing with nerves.

“So I was really pleased tonight.”

As was goalkeeper Hope Solo, who extended her national team record by posting her 101st shutout in her 189th start.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect game right out of the gates,” she said. “Our backline kept the ball, we moved the ball. We weren’t afraid to keep possession in the back.

“It felt really good. Perfect first game.”

And now the U.S. will put it behind them. The soccer competition is the longest in these Games, starting more than 48 hours before the opening ceremony and continuing for 16 days. Despite that, there’s little time for rest, with the two finalists playing six games over that span.

“This kind of tournament, there’s no dwelling on previous games, previous mistakes, goals. Good things,” Lloyd said. “You’ve got to just move on and get ready for the next one.”

The next one will come Saturday against France, ranked third in the world by FIFA and one of seven top-10 teams in the 12-nation field. Those rankings are led by the U.S., the reigning World Cup and Olympic champion, which is trying to become the first country to win those titles in consecutive summers.

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It got off to a quick on start on that Wednesday when Lloyd, who scored the final goal in the last two Olympic competitions, scored the first for the U.S. in these Games just nine minutes into the competition.

Tobin Heath did most of the heavy lifting on the play, sending a left-footed cross toward the six-yard box for Lloyd, who leaped between two defenders to one-hop a header just inside the far post.

It was the seventh Olympic goal of Lloyd’s career.

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Morgan doubled the lead in the opening minute of the second half, slipping her defender and sneaking alone into the 18-yard box to settle a pass from Morgan Brian before putting a low left-footed shot in at the near post.

With the U.S. comfortably in charge, the crowd of 9,556 began entertaining itself midway through the second half, raining boos, a vulgar chant and later cries of “Zika! Zika!” down on Solo, who last month posted a photo of herself on Twitter wearing mosquito netting and holding a bottle of insect repellent.

“It’s part of the football culture to boo the goalkeeper. So I’m OK with it,” Solo said. “I was focused on the game. So what goes on around me in the stadium, honestly it doesn’t matter.”

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Now her focus, like Lloyd’s, turns to the next game. With the top two teams in each of the three groups, plus the top two third-place teams, advancing to the quarterfinals, Wednesday’s win virtually assured the U.S. a spot in the next round. Winning the group, however, would give the U.S. a much more favorable route to the final, a route that would see them play the last two games in Rio de Janeiro.

“Overall my takeaway was yeah, it’s three points in the bag,” Ellis said. “We’ve got to give ourselves the best chance to get out of the group. And starting with three [points] is the way to go.”

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