The USA women’s football team may be in transition, but it has clearly lost non of its potency. The Americans, who have won the last three Olympic titles, beat Canada 2-0 in Sunday night’s final of the North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying tournament for the Rio 2016 Games.

Both sides had already confirmed their places in the Olympic tournament this August by winning their respective semi-finals, but the manner of the USA’s triumph will surely alarm their rivals. They did not concede a single goal as they cruised through the five qualifying matches on home soil, finishing up with eight players in the team of the tournament, including best player (Morgan Brian), top scorer (Crystal Dunn) and best goalkeeper (Hope Solo).

USA captain Carli Lloyd: ‘teams are going to be coming after us at Rio 2016’

All this despite the team being without a host of the key players who led them to World Cup glory last year. Veterans Abby Wambach (the all-time women’s top scorer) and Lauren Holiday have retired, Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux are taking time off because they are pregnant, while captain Christie Rampone and fellow world and Olympic champion Megan Rapinoe are both recovering from knee surgery.

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The USA’s Julie Johnston holds off Canada’s Nichelle Prince in the final (Photo: Getty Images/Scott Halleran)

Among the new faces making an impact is 17-year-old Mallory Pugh, who will start university in autumn and is the youngest US player to start in a qualifier. Then there is the midfield pairing of 22-year-old Brian, who became a regular at the World Cup, and 21-year-old Lindsey Horan, who has stepped confidently into Holiday’s boots and scored the opening goal in Sunday night’s match in Houston, before Tobin Heath finised off the Canadians.

“We’ve got to continue to grow and evolve. We’ve got new leadership, new players. Those have to continue to come together”

USA coach Jill Ellis

The USA has won four of the five Olympic tournaments that have been staged, taking silver at Sydney 2000, but Ellis said the drive for improvement was continuous, and that she will scout the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which begins April, for new recruits. “There’s a new crop of players going into the NWSL,” she told the US Olympic Commitee website. “You’re constantly looking for players who you think can add one more special thing to this group.”

The game was a re-match of a contentious semi-final at the London 2012 Olympic Games, which the USA won 4-3. Canada coach John Herdman was clearly impressed by another defeat, throwing his runners-up medal into the crowd. The Briton said he hoped his action would inspire someone, saying: “I don’t play this game for medals.”

‘Everything is on hold until after Rio,’ says Carli Lloyd

World player of the year Carli Lloyd was one of eight USA players in the team of the tournament (Photo: Getty Images/Scott Halleran)

The USA and Canada became the eighth and ninth teams to qualify for the 12-team Olympic tournament. They join: Brazil, Colombia, Germany, France, South Africa, Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Follow the race to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.