Diamond Bar’s Alex Morgan helps U.S. beat New Zealand

These were supposed to be the Hope Solo Olympics for the U.S. women’s soccer team. Or the Alex Morgan Games. Instead, they belong so far to the old reliable, Abby Wambach, who has scored in every match to lead the Americans into the semifinals.

The 32-year-old striker slid onto a pass in the 27th minute Friday to knock home her fourth goal of the tournament and then celebrated with a cartwheel in the United States’ 2-0 win over New Zealand in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament.

Sydney Leroux added an insurance goal in the 87th minute for the two-time defending Olympic champion Americans, who will play the winner of the Britain-Canada match in Manchester on Monday.

Wambach extended her U.S. record with her eighth career Olympic goal–a mark she holds despite missing the Beijing Games with a broken leg–and pushed her international tally to 142, only 16 behind Mia Hamm’s world record.

For most of the year, she has yielded much of the scoring load to youngster Morgan, but Morgan has played the role of catalyst in this tournament, getting three assists and doing much of the hard work to set up Wambach’s goal Friday.

Read more at MORGAN.

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