The United States defeated Haiti, 6-0, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., to round out Group A play of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship and advance to the semifinals. The U.S. can clinch a spot at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada with a semifinal win on Friday at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
The U.S. pressed from the opening minutes, forcing Haiti’s goalkeeper, Geralda Saintilus, to make two saves: one on a curling free kick from Carli Lloyd in the first minute and the other on a Abby Wambach shot in the 4th minute. In the 9th minute, Saintilus didn’t effectively punch out a cross from Meghan Klingenberg, and Carli Lloyd handled the clearance and buried the rebound off the half volley for the opening goal.
Haiti continued to stay on the back foot throughout the first half as the United States swung in multiple crosses from both flanks, creating several good scoring chances but not capitalizing on the opportunities.
After defending dozens of crosses, Haiti’s defense couldn’t handle a Christen Press ball over the top as it deflected off a Haitian defender, where a waiting Abby Wambach headed it past Saintilus for the second goal of the evening in the 39th minute.
The pressure carried over into the second half as the U.S. continued to send in crosses without getting a result. In the 57th minute, Klingenberg opened her national team scoring account with style, taking a clearance on the half volley from more than 30 yards out, sending the ball flying past Saintilus.
Meghan Klingenberg’s first international goal in the 57th minute was a good one.
Similar to its match against Guatemala, the goals for the U.S. would come in bunches. Abby Wambach pounced on a loose ball in the box to score the team’s fourth goal in the 61st minute and Press scored her first goal of the tournament four minutes later. After coming in as a substitute in the 63rd minute, Morgan Brian scored her third career goal for the United States as Sydney Leroux got to the end line and centered one across for the University of Virginia senior to finish.
Haiti won’t be advancing but has shown much improvement since Head Coach Shek Borkowski took over the team and uprooted them to Indiana to live and train together. Several members played for FC Indiana in the WPSL-Elite league in 2012 and while the results were challenging, showed improvement in every facet of the game.
The U.S. will face the winner of Tuesday night’s match between Mexico and Jamaica in the semifinals at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., on Friday. Trinidad & Tobago, with its win over Guatemala and the USA’s win over Haiti, advanced to the semifinals as Group A second-place finishers and will face Costa Rica on Friday.