Alex Morgan scored twice in the second half and Canadian-born Sydney Leroux scored for the United States in a 3-0 win over Canada at BMO Field in Toronto.
Morgan scored twice in as many minutes on shots that looked nearly identical to each other and came from almost the exact spot on the field. Morgan beat Canada goalkeeper Erin McLeod at the far post on both occasions (in the 70th and 72nd minutes) to quickly give the U.S. the lead in an otherwise slow to develop game.
Leroux, however, stole the headlines.
Sydney Leroux scored in the 93rd minute against Canada. (Photo copyright Meg Linehan for The Equalizer.)
Leroux scored in the 93rd minute, immediately pointing to the U.S. crest on her centennial jersey and putting her index finger to her lips to shush the crowd of 22,453.
Canada lacked creativity all night and managed zero shots on goal for the entire 90 minutes. They were effective defensively in the first half, however, rendering Morgan and Abby Wambach as non-factors for the opening 45 minutes by staying compact and denying the strikers any space.
Kadeisha Buchanan, who started for Canada at just 17 years old, was impressive, particularly in the second half when she chased down Morgan from behind in the 53rd minute and tackled her to deny the shot. Two minutes later, Buchanan cleared Wambach’s header off the line.
With the win, the U.S. improves to 44-3-5 all-time vs. Canada, which still hasn’t beaten the Americans in over 12 years.
