WOMEN’S OLYMPIC SOCCER

Stirring comeback

Megan Rapinoe (15) and Alex Morgan celebrate after Morgan scored one of her two goals in a 4-2 victory over France in the United States’ Olympic opener at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday.
Megan Rapinoe (15) and Alex Morgan celebrate after Morgan scored one of her two goals in a 4-2 victory over France in the United States’ Olympic opener at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday.

— Twice, Hope Solo stretched to her left to stop the ball. Twice, she couldn’t quite reach it.

Two quick shots, and the U.S. women’s soccer team had an early hole at the start of its quest for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal.

Fortunately for the Americans, they have enough firepower to overcome such a deficit and took control, beating France 4-2 Wednesday as they opened their London Games far from London.

“There’s a lot of other sports going on,” midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. “So we have to catch the attention early.”

They did so not only by falling behind, but by finding four dynamic ways to score goals. Abby Wambach used her size and strength to head in a corner kick, speedy Alex Morgan raced ahead to chip one over the goalkeeper, Carli Lloyd nailed a 25-yard rocket, and Morgan cashed in with a simple tap-in after a nice run from Tobin Heath.

“I think there was a lot of nerves and stuff going on in those first minutes, and we got them out,” defender Rachel Buehler said. “It probably went as bad as it could and then we were able to turn it around.”

Soccer always starts early at the Olympics in order to have time to play a full tournament of games. In this case, the Americans were on the field two days before the opening ceremony and 400-plus miles from the British capital.

They knew an early stum- ble wouldn’t be the end of the world. The U.S. team gave up two goals in the first four minutes to open the last Olympics in China, losing 2-0 to Norway, but the Americans rebounded to win their final five matches and take the gold.

“After 2-0, I thought about China,” Coach Pia Sundhage said. “We’ve been there before and we came back.”

While the Americans are favored to take the title again, it was hardly a surprise to see the French make it a game. The teams were tied late in the second half in last year’s World Cup semifinals before the Americans finished off a 3-1 victory, and France entered these Olympics on a 17-game winning streak.

Still, the Americans allowed more goals in the first handful of minutes Wednesday than they had allowed in any game since the World Cup final loss to Japan. Gaetane Thiney (12th minute) and Marie-Laure Delie (14th) found holes in the defense, a potential cause for U.S. concern as the tournament progresses.

Another concern for the Americans: Midfielder Shannon Boxx left in the first half with a hamstring injury and is day-to-day.

“Magic things could happen after a good sleep,” Sundhage said. “We’ll just wait and see.”

Regardless, other teams in the tournament will surely take notice at how the Americans roared back against the French: Wambach in the 19th, Morgan in the 32nd, Lloyd in the 56th and Morgan again in the 66th. Wambach now has 139 international goals in her pursuit of Mia Hamm’s record of 158, and the 23-year-old Morgan — the second-youngest player on the team — has 19 this year alone.

The United States plays Colombia in its second group game Saturday. France will face North Korea.

BRITAIN 1, NEW ZEALAND 0

CARDIFF, Wales — The first victory of the London Olympics went to the host country.

Stephanie Houghton curled in a 64thminute free kick to give Britain a victory over New Zealand,

It was the first women’s soccer victory for Britain, as a team had never been put together before this year’s Olympics. Players celebrated by hugging on the pitch and then walking around the field to thank the nearly 25,000 fans at Millennium Stadium.

“They made history today. They are history makers,” Britain Coach Hope Powell said. “We recognized that it was the first event, that it was an opportunity to showcase our talent. We couldn’t ignore that.”

BRAZIL 5, CAMEROON 0

CARDIFF, Wales — Brazil scored two early goals and got two more from Marta in the second half to defeat Cameroon Francielle converted a free kick in the seventh minute and Renata Costa increased the lead with a header off a corner in the 10th, then Marta scored with a penalty kick in the 73rd, set up Cristiane’s goal in the 80th and sealed the victory in the 88th.

SWEDEN 4, SOUTH AFRICA 1

COVENTRY, England — Lotta Schelin scored twice to help Sweden beat South Africa.

Sweden dominated from the start and was up 3-0 midway through the first half. Nilla Fischer gave Sweden the lead in the seventh minute and Lisa Dahlkvist made it 2-0 in the 20th before Schelin added the third just a minute later.

Portia Modise scored with a longrange lob at the hour mark before Schelin scored the fourth goal for Sweden in the 63rd minute.

JAPAN 2, CANADA 1

COVENTRY, England — World champion Japan scored twice in the first half and held on for a victory over Canada. Nahomi Kawasumi put the Japanese ahead in the 33rd minute and Aya Miyama doubled the lead in the 44th to put the favorites in control at the City of Coventry Stadium.

Melissa Tancredi scored from close range for Canada 10 minutes after the break, taking Rhian Wilkinson’s low cross from the right wing and skipping in front of defender Yukari Kinga to score.

Today’s TV schedule

NBC SPORTS NETWORK

Men’s soccer — qualifying round (LIVE), 6 a.m.-5 p.m.

MSNBC

Men’s soccer — qualifying round (LIVE), 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL

Men’s soccer — qualifying round: Honduras vs. Morocco (LIVE), Mexico vs. South Korea (LIVE), United Arab Emirates vs. Uruguay (LIVE), Britain vs. Senegal (LIVE), Spain vs. Japan, Gabon vs. Switzerland, Egypt vs. Brazil, Belarus vs. New Zealand, 6 a.m.-10 p.m.

TELEMUNDO

Men’s soccer — qualifying round: Mexico vs. South Korea, Honduras vs. Morocco, Brazil vs. Egypt, United Arab Emirates vs. Uruguay, 5:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (LIVE)

Sports, Pages 19 on 07/26/2012

Upcoming Events