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In-Game Blog: USA vs. New Zealand

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USA FACES NEW ZEALAND IN OLYMPIC QUARTERFINALS: The U.S. Women’s National Team, which is coming off its first 3-0-0 performance in the group stage, faces New Zealand in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympics at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 3, at St. James’ Park in Newcastle, England.

The match will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network, NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and streamed on NBC Live Extra. Fans can follow the match via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt.

Should the U.S. advance past New Zealand, the team would face the winner of the Great Britain-Canada quarterfinal match on Monday, Aug. 6, in the Olympic Semifinals at Old Trafford in Manchester, England.

PRE-GAME NOTES:

  • The U.S. is 8-1-0 against New Zealand and heads into Friday’s game with eight straight victories in the series.
  • The two sides most recently met on Feb. 11, 2012, in a match played in freezing temperatures in Frisco, Texas. Hannah Wilkinson scored in the 49th minute and the Americans had the chase the game for the rest of the way. Alex Morgan then tallied the tying and game-winning goals in the closing minutes to defeat New Zealand 2-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 25,677 at FC Dallas Stadium.
  • These two teams met in group play of the 2008 Olympics on Aug. 12 of that year with the USA winning 4-0 in Shenyang, China. The victory pushed the USA through to the quarterfinals earned the Group G title. USA midfielder Heather O’Reilly scored the game’s first goal just 40 seconds into the match, an Olympic record.
  • In that Olympic match, the USA won its group with a plus-3 goal differential, while Norway (tied on points with the U.S. with six) lost its final group game 5-1 to Japan and finished with a minus-1 goal differential.
  • The USA’s most lopsided victory against New Zealand was a 6-0 win on Oct. 10, 2004, in an international friendly at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, the hometown of U.S. defender Heather Mitts.
  • U.S. legend Mia Hamm and notched her 100th and 101st assists when the U.S. defeated New Zealand 5-0 on June 4, 2000, at the Pacific Cup in Sydney, Australia. Hamm (144 assists) and Kristine Lilly (105) are the only two U.S. WNT players to eclipse the 100-assist mark in their careers.
2012 OLYMPICS QUARTERFINAL ROUND MATCHES (All matches are on Aug. 3)

France 2, Sweden 1
USA 2, New Zealand 0
Japan 2, Brazil 0
Canada 2, Great Britain 0

SEMIFINAL MATCHES (Aug. 6)
Canada vs. USA (2:45 p.m. ET)France vs. Japan (12 p.m. ET)

LINEUP vs. NEW ZEALAND
USA:1-Hope Solo; 6-Amy LePeilbet, 3-Christie Rampone (capt.), 16-Rachel Buehler, 5-Kelley O’Hara; 15-Megan Rapinoe, 10-Carli Lloyd, 12-Lauren Cheney, 17-Tobin Heath; 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Abby Wambach

Subs not used: 2-Heather Mitts, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 7-Shannon Boxx, 8-Amy Rodriguez, 9-Heather O’Reilly, 11-Sydney Leroux, 18-Nicole Barnhart

NZL: 1-Jenny Bindon; 2-Ria Percival, 5-Abby Erceg, 6-Rebecca Smith (capt.), 7-Ali Riley; 4-Katie Hoyle, 11-Kirsty Yallop, 12-Betsy Hassett, 10-Sarah Gregorius; 9-Amber Hearn, 17-Hannah Wilkinson

Subs not used: 18-Rebecca Rolls, 3-Anna Green, 14-Kristy Hill, 15-Rebekah Stott, 8-Hayley Moorwood, 16-Annalie Longo, 13-Rosie White

IN-GAME NOTES:

  • Abby Wambach has scored in her last five Olympic games dating back to 2004. She is the U.S. WNT's all-time leading scorer in World Cup competition AND Olympic Games. Very impressive.
  • Alex Morgan's assist was her third of the Olympic Games.
  • Sydney Leroux's goal was her first career Olympic goal.
  • The U.S. is 4-0-0 in this year's Olympics and has posted three consecutive shutouts.
  • The USA improved to 92-2-5 all-time when Abby Wambach scores a goal.
  • Midfielder Tobin Heath made her second start of the 2012 Olympics. She started in the first match of the Olympics, a 4-2 win against France on July 25, and then was a second-half sub for Heather O'Reilly against Colombia and halftime sub for Megan Rapinoe against Korea DPR.
  • Defender Christie Rampone moved into sole possession of fourth place all-time on the WNT list with her 235th career international start. Rampone passed former U.S. defender Joy Fawcett, who had 234 career starts in 17 years.
  • Rampone made her 20th career Olympic appearance, a USA record previously held by Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly and Kate Markgraf, who all played 16 Olympic matches.
  • Four a fourth straight game, Amy Rodriguez came off the bench, replacing Lauren Cheney in the 90th minute.
  • The USA picked up two yellow cards in the game - one to Abby Wambach and one to Carli Lloyd - but as yellow cards are wiped away after the quarterfinals, the USA will have no danger of suspensions for the rest of the tournament. Cheney came into the match with a yellow card, but as she did not receive one vs. New Zealand, she is also free and clear for the semifinal.

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