The U.S. women's soccer team beat North Korea 1-0 this afternoon at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, in their third match of the 2012 London Olympics.
Pia Sundhage's squad finished 3-0-0 for the first time in their Olympic history and they'll meet New Zealand on Friday (9:30 a.m. EST) in the quarterfinals at Newcastle.
The final margin should have been much more as the Americans hit the post twice in the first half and also put countless great opportunities either wide of the net or over. Luckily, Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach were on top of their games as they created basically all the U.S. chances.
The moment of brilliance came in the 25th minute as midfielder Lauren Cheney dropped a long pass into the box for Morgan. As two North Korean defenders converged on her, she touched it to Wambach who blasted it in. It was Wambach's 141st career international goal, she is now only 17 behind Mia Hamm for No. 1 all-time in U.S. history.
U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo didn't have to work hard, she only really made one above-average play: intercepting a cross by North Korea in the second half. Her defense looked strong although truth be told, the U.S. dominated possession and North Korea barely ever controlled the ball. Odds are she was probably blasting Brandi Chastain on Twitter some more since she had so much downtime during the match.
The mysterious opponents got increasingly frustrated in the second half which culminated in Choe Mi Gyong picking up her second yellow in the 81st minute. With 11 players, North Korea didn't have much of a chance but that flicker of hope was gone after Gyong's clumsy challenge on Cheney.
Both Morgan and Wambach nearly scored in the first half since each hit the post. Morgan received a pass from Wambach and turned with her favored left foot to strike a low shot that deflected off the far post. The script was flipped from Wambach when she took a ball from Morgan and tried to place a shot past the diving North Korean goalkeeper.
Substitute Tobin Heath almost made it 2-0 early in the second half but she lofted her shot high after she found herself wide open. Likewise, Carli Lloyd had a good chance on a rebound but as she usually does, she couldn't get her body over it and it went harmlessly over the bar.
The best news for the U.S. is that nobody got hurt and other than a yellow card for Cheney, they didn't pick up any cards (not sure how they carry over to the knockout rounds). They will be heavy favorites against New Zealand and assuming that they can start finishing more consistently and at a higher rate, there is no reason they should have much of a problem with them.
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