USA routs Haiti before big crowd

Lloyd had her second straight three-goal game to lead the United States to an 8-0 victory over Haiti on Sunday in a friendly. Alex Morgan went down in the penalty area 15 minutes later, and Carli Lloyd finished the penalty kick for her 75th global goal to make it 2-0. Nor did she get to rest after an iconic hat trick in the first half of the final against Japan, instead pulled this way and that upon her return to the United States as the face and voice of a team that was one of the sports stories of the summer.

The win pushed its unbeaten streak at home to 100 consecutive games (88-0-12).

The USA dominated possession throughout the entire match and had 39 shots, 19 of which were on goal.

Lloyd, the World Cup MVP, has 16 goals this year, one more than her previous high set in 2012 and matched in 2014. Her grandmother recently passed away. “It’s so amusing I think the players have commented here that it’s, ‘May I have an autograph, please, ma’am?’ It’s really polite”. But I think Carli would be the first person to say none of that happens without the quality of service that she’s getting, the timing of her teammates. Julie Johnston opened the scoring for the Stars and Stripes, the centre-back finding the net with less than a minute on the clock. She cut in from the right flank to receive a pass from Megan Rapinoe and ran past a couple defenders before slotting in a simple finish. The second half was much of the same, with Haiti struggling to get out of its own half of the field. In the 33rd minute, Limage tipped a close-range Lloyd blast into the crossbar, her most hard save of the day. So now, it’s a matter of figuring out the combination of players and what their exact roles will be just underneath her, which is something coach Jill Ellis seems to be in the process of sorting out. “She’s good at picking up loose balls with her mentality. Any opportunity to grow the game is great”, said Ellis. Without listing her credentials, as someone who made almost 200 appearances for her country before the most recent tournament even began and twice scored the goals that clinched Olympic gold medals could have, she said she had been “chugging along” for quite some time beneath the radar. “It’s all about contributing to the team and continuing to fight like an underdog”.

After scoring five in the first half, the team added three in the second.

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