The first half was a pleasure for me to watch.  The girls came out flying, executed the game plan to perfection, and did it with style.  The first couple goals came from corners that weren't cleared by Costa Rica, and Sinc and Sophie finished respectively.  

 

The third goal was by far the best of the game.  Sinc beat her player on the right side and sent in a world class ball that curled to the far post behind Costa Rica's back four.  Kaylyn Kyle did well to stay onside and ran in to head the ball in at the far post.

 

 Sinc then put another stamp on the game by taking a nice first touch from a Rhian's cross off her chest, and then calmly went far post for her second goal of the game.  (For those keeping count, Sinc is now 4 goals behind my caps).

 

The second half saw some changes in the team, the pace of the game slowed down, and we didn't attack as frequently as in the first.  Our sole goal of the half came from an own goal when the Costa Rican keeper took her eye off the ball on a pass back.  Not pretty.

 

We came close on a few occasions, the closest being a nice finish by Brittany Timko that was ruled offside. We now have three days off before our semi final, which means we will have a more relaxed pace around here for a few days.  After a recovery session tomorrow morning we have the afternoon off.  

 

If I had to guess I would say that most people will have a pretty low-key afternoon: Maybe a Starbucks, a walk or a movie.  I'm sure everyone will have an eye on the US-Mexico game as well! We are now one step closer to our ultimate goal, The London Olympics, but the biggest hurdle is now right around the corner and no one has forgotten that. We will enjoy the way we played tonight, then then it is back to work tomorrow.