FRISCO, Texas -- Putting aside several days of conversation about which might keep them from traveling to the Olympics later this year, from a labor dispute with their own federation to the spread of the Zika virus in Brazil, the United States women's national team got down to the business of first qualifying for the event. A 5-0 win against Costa Rica marked both the first game for the Americans in the 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship and their first competitive game since beating Japan in the World Cup final last summer.
Alex Morgan scored 12 seconds into the match off a Carli Lloyd assist, the fastest goal in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying and what U.S. Soccer officials were still trying Wednesday evening to confirm as the fastest goal in women's national team history. Morgan and Lloyd teamed up again in the same order midway through the second half, and Lloyd's penalty kick, Crystal Dunn's act of persistence and Christen Press' elegant touch provided the remainder of the final margin.
Compared to the effective-but-tepid 1-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago with which the U.S. opened World Cup qualifying a year and a half ago, this was a breeze against a far better opponent. A full-strength Costa Rica, unlike the weakened version of the team the U.S. ran over during last fall's "Victory Tour," isn't elite, but it is a legitimate World Cup-caliber team.
Here are three observations from a strong start to qualifying.
1. Good place to begin for Alex Morgan
Granted, this wasn't the first game of the year for Morgan, but she scored in last month's calendar-opening friendly against Ireland, too, so the theme holds (and according to coach Jill Ellis, Morgan also scored twice when the U.S. scrimmaged a boys team this past weekend). If this is a pivotal year in the soccer life of a player who found fame and goals in equal abundance as a breakout star but struggled with injuries in recent years, then there is ample evidence in the early weeks of 2016 that, when healthy, Morgan remains every bit as dynamic a presence as her reputation suggests.
"I think 2016 has just started off right, and I feel really good with where I'm at," Morgan said. "Just the fact that the first game of 2016 I had my 100th cap and now the first game of CONCACAF tournament, we came out ready to go and I got a couple of goals along the way. That helps my confidence, definitely."
There is going to be an element of good fortune in scoring a goal in 12 seconds. Everything needs to come off perfectly in a scripted set. In this case, six players touched the ball in that short span of time: Dunn, Tobin Heath, Morgan Brian, Lindsey Horan, Lloyd and finally, off of Lloyd's flicked-on header, Morgan. But being in the right place at the right time to read Lloyd's leap, hold off a Costa Rican defender, wait for the ball to settle at her feet and drive a volley on frame isn't good fortune; it's elite-level goal scoring. Morgan can do that.
Yet the United States didn't get that from its forwards in Canada a year ago, Morgan included as she fought for form after an injury.
The pairing of Morgan and Lloyd as essentially the Nos. 9 and 10 players high up the field that began late in the World Cup shows signs of blossoming into something truly exceptional.
"They were put on it [playing up top together], in terms of the World Cup, right away," Ellis said this week. "But I think since then we've had time in training and time in matches to start to work on it. Alex has been finishing. And in the January camp, both of them scored goals in every 11-v-11 environment we had. It's starting to build that chemistry."
2. Get used to this 11
The condensed schedule in the qualifying tournament, with the expectation of five games in 12 days if it reaches the final, means there will be some lineup rotation during the stay in Texas. That began even before this game was over, Jaelene Hinkle and Mallory Pugh sparing Ali Krieger and Dunn, respectively, the final quarter of the match. But it is remarkable how quickly a consistent, reliable starting 11 has emerged in the aftermath of the World Cup.
To be fair, Ellis pushed back this week against the idea that it might be difficult for a starter to emerge late in the buildup to a tournament, as Julie Johnston did in the spring a year ago and Brian did even as the World Cup progressed.
"It's still in the early evaluation process," Ellis said. "It's kind of reminiscent of us going over to France and playing those games [to open 2015] and then playing some domestic games. But I think for me, it's starting to see good relationships being built. ... I'm really looking for partnerships. But in terms of is anyone a lock right now to start? No, we've had some consistency in our lineup, but I think we have people chasing down starting spots right now."
All right, but looking at Wednesday's game as yet one more piece of evidence, who is in danger of being caught for one of those spots?
Dunn made it clear, yet again, why she isn't soon coming out of the starting lineup for any reason other than rest. She needed the summer she spent finding her confidence with the Washington Spirit a year ago, but it's impossible not to wonder how much easier the Americans might have had it in Canada had the current version of Dunn been available as the right-sided threat able to race to the end line and cross the ball or cut inside and slalom through defenses.
There will be tougher tests of possession, but Horan again looked in harmony with Brian at the back of the midfield, the latter comfortable enough to get forward repeatedly and create chances. And the long ball to help set up the first goal goes in Horan's ledger, too.
Ellis already offered praise for the way Heath combines with Meghan Klingenberg on the left side, and the versatile and creative Heath did nothing against Costa Rica to suggest she's anything but the wise choice for at least as long as Megan Rapinoe remains sidelined.
Every game in the World Cup felt as if it were preceded by drama about starters. Rapinoe's injury, Abby Wambach and Lauren Holiday's retirement and other personnel developments after the title was won only added uncertainty. Or so it seemed. Instead a pleasantly predictable startling lineup has emerged.
"I think you definitely want some cohesiveness, you want some fluidness with the starting 11," Lloyd said. "You also have to realize that people still need to fight for their spots, and you need to have that kind of healthy, competitive environment to be able to push one another. I think that's really important. But for now, qualifying, this does seem to be the starting lineup Jill is going with."
3. The Zika shadow
Hope Solo was credited with a save in the win, the first required of her in a competitive CONCACAF match since the opener in World Cup qualifying, but it was a quiet night for the U.S. goalkeeper and the back line. It hasn't been a quiet week for Solo, who made headlines with comments about how the current global public health emergency, as the World Health Organization classifies it, involving the Zika virus might affect her willingness to play in Brazil, the epicenter of the emergency.
"If I had to decide today, I would not go," Solo said Wednesday, asked the same question and echoing the response she gave in a Sports Illustrated interview that ran this week. "Fortunately, the Olympics are about six months away. So I believe that we have time to get some of our doubts and questions answered. We're working closely with doctors, with U.S. Soccer, with the Olympic Committee, and hopefully there's things that can be done in a short amount of time. But we do take it very seriously -- I take my health very seriously. We all do. And it needs to be addressed, and we need to feel safe when we go to Brazil."
Ellis said after the game that Dr. Bojan Zoric, the U.S. team physician, spoke to players Tuesday about the issue and that a doctor based in Texas was also scheduled to speak to the team in the next couple of days. Ellis described the conversations as part of a process of "collecting information" that remains in the early stages.
"We'll be waiting to hear what kind of steps are going to be taken to make sure everything is safe and secure for the athletes, as well as the visitors, because this a very serious issue," Solo said. "It's not just the athletes going to Brazil. There's over 200 countries in the Olympics, who are going to then go back to their own countries. This is very much a serious issue worldwide that we all need to be patient and get the answers."
That this isn't an issue likely to fade away was made clear when Solo responded to a familiar question in any kind of athletic setting with the most unfamiliar of answers.
"It could be a distraction, you never know," Solo said. "This team knows how to handle distractions. We're going to play every game to the best of our ability. We're going to compete; we're going to perform. But as time gets closer to the Olympics, who knows what's going to happen? And I just really hope that we get those answers soon."
Elsewhere in Group A: Even with a roster missing familiar faces, a source of some controversy, Mexico looked the part of international veteran in thumping newcomer Puerto Rico 6-0 in the opening game at Toyota Stadium. Under longtime coach Leo Cuellar, Mexico started only five players in Wednesday's game who started even once in the 2015 World Cup, when the team failed to advance out of its group. Missing were several high-profile European-based players, including Cuellar critic Charlyn Corral. But Maribel Dominguez, not part of the World Cup roster a year ago, currently unattached professionally and far from a new face at 37 years old, gave her coach some temporary breathing room with a hat trick.
