Long-range volley from Wambach ignites U.S. attack

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Jun 18, 2012

[SWEDEN-USA] The USA got goals from Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and second-half substitute Tobin Heath to beat Sweden, 3-1, Saturday in Halmstad in a tune-up for the 2012 London Olympics.

Wambach scored her 136th career international goal on a thunderous half-volley from at least 35 yards out that caught Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl out of her goal just eight minutes into the game. Morgan added her 15th goal of 2012 in the 22nd minute. Sweden pulled a goal back through star striker Lotta Schelin in the 35th minute, but second-half substitute Heath sealed the game with a rare header goal 11 minutes into the second half.

“It was a good experience for us, playing the third-best team in the world and scoring three goals,” said U.S. coach Pia Sundhage. “I am very happy that Abby and Alex, our goal scorers, each scored a goal and that Tobin Heath came off the bench to score. Part of the game was pretty good, and we are taking another step closer to the Olympics. We are seeing the start of our run to the Olympics and we are happy with the 90 minutes we played today.”

The USA will face Japan on Monday in the second game on its trip to Sweden. The match that will be broadcast tape-delayed on Universal Sports Network at 10 a.m. ET and will be live at 7 a.m. ET on UniversalSports.com.

June 16 in Halmstad
Sweden 1 USA 3. Goals: Schelin 35; Wambach 8, Morgan 22, Heath 56.
Sweden -- Lindahl;  Berglund, Segerstrom (Levenstad, 66), Svensson, Seger (Landstrom, 90+4), Thunebro, Schelin (Edlund, 72), Dahlkvist, Fischer (Almgren, 72), Goransson (Hammarstrom, 53), Jakobsson (Asllani, 52).
USA -- Solo; Mitts, Rampone (Sauerbrunn, 46), Buehler, LePeilbet; O’Reilly (Heath, 46), Boxx (Lloyd, 46), Cheney, Rapinoe (Rodriguez, 63); Morgan (Leroux, 74), Wambach.
Referee: Teodora Albon (Romania).
Att.: 2,751.

Sweden-USA Highlights: