Wambach leads rout as US win CONCACAF Championship with 6-0 victory over Costa Rica
Abby Wambach scored four times as the US Women’s National Team thrashed Costa Rica in the final of the CONCACAF Championship in front of a crowd of 11,625 at PPL Park in Philadelphia tonight.
Wambach opened the scoring with a flick header in the 4th minute from a Morgan Bryan cross. Wambach then turned provider with the second goal in the 17th minute as she headed a Megan Rapinoe corner back across the box for Carli Lloyd to glance in with her head. The headed goals continued in the 35th minute as Wambach, wide open on the far post, added her second from Lloyd’s telepathic cross.
Wambach then rounded her headed hat-trick of goals off in the 41st minute as Lloyd again turned provider. A neat chip from Lloyd found Wambach with plenty of time to guide her header home past the desperate Dinnia Diaz in the Costa Rica goal.
Half time: USA 4 Costa Rica 0
The US took a while to get going in the second half but Wambach added a 4th goal and her teams 5th in the 71st minute as Sydney Leroux threaded the ball through to the striker who chipped over Diaz. The goal was Wambach’s 176th goal for the USA, 75 of whom have been headers and her 4 goals tonight means she has broken Michelle Akers all-time Women’s World Cup qualifying goals record for the USA with 18.
Three minutes later, in the 74th minute, Leroux scored another header from a Tobin Heath cross as the US completed the scoring with a sixth goal.
The US will now move onto the 2015 World Cup in Canada as CONCACAF Champions.
