Ridiculously dominant soccer team is still ridiculously dominant.
That was more or less the takeaway from the United States women’s national team’s final pre-Olympic tune-up friendly in Kansas City on Friday, a 4-0 victory over Costa Rica. Crystal Dunn, Mallory Pugh, Carli Lloyd and Christen Press got the goals as the Americans improved to 14-0-0 all-time against the Ticas with a 75-2 cumulative goal difference.
In Rio de Janeiro, the defending Women’s World Cup champion Lady Yanks will chase a fourth straight Olympic gold medal and a fifth overall. If they reach the championship game again, they will have done so in all six editions of the women’s soccer tournament at the Summer Games.
The Americans took an encouraging step towards that objective, giving a complete and resounding performance that utterly overwhelmed Costa Rica. That the score wasn’t totally lopsided probably had more to do with the on-field heat index of 106 degrees for the kickoff at 8 p.m. local time and U.S. misses than it did a lack of chances or any kind of defensive competence by Costa Rica.
From the first kick, the American high press sprung forwards Dunn, Pugh and Alex Morgan. Costa Rica withered under the pressure deep in its own half and gave the ball away in spots where the U.S. needed just a few moments to get to goal. The balance of power would never tip back.
In just the seventh minute, Dunn smacked a shot off the near post. And within a quarter of an hour, the U.S. was leading. Morgan picked out Meghan Klingenberg as she overlapped up the left. The defender had an acre of space and picked out the wide-open Dunn at the far post. She had a simple tap-in.
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