USA 2 New Zealand 0: Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan give champions winning start
Americans extend winning run to 12 matches as they begin campaign for fourth consecutive gold
Her again: Carli Lloyd celebrates after opening the scoring (Photo: Getty Images/Pedro Vilela)
Reigning Olympic and world champions the USA cruised passed New Zealand to a comfortbable 2-0 win in their opening match of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday (3 August) night.
Carli Lloyd, the world player of the year, opened the scoring in the first half with a header, before Alex Morgan increased the defending champions' advantage just after the break.
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The USA players celebrate their second goal, by Alex Morgan (Photo: Getty Images/Pedro Vilela)
The victory extends the USA's winning streak in Olympic football to 12 games as they go for a fourth consecutive gold medal. Since women's football became an Olympic sport in 1996, the Americans have won gold four times, taking silver on the only occasion they did not top the podium, at Sydney 2000, when they lost the final to Norway.
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Earlier in the day, Sweden beat South Africa 1-0 in the opening match of the Games, Canada defeated Australia 2-0, Brazil cruised past China 3-0 and Germany thrashed Zimbabwe 6-1.
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