Megan Rapinoe on Wednesday scored twice in the first half as the US romped to a 6-0 victory over Argentina to retain the SheBelieves Cup friendly soccer title.
Led by Rapinoe, the tournament’s top scorer with three goals, the US finished with a maximum nine points with three wins from three matches in the four-nation, round-robin tournament.
Second place went to Brazil, who capped their tournament with a 2-0 victory over Canada earlier at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY
Canada finished third with three points and Argentina, in their first appearance, came away with zero points.
Argentina, the only team in the event outside the top 10 in the FIFA rankings, were a last-minute replacement for Japan.
They had an early setback with three players ruled out of their opening match just hours before kickoff because of COVID-19 protocols.
They were overwhelmed early by a US team that scored four goals in the first half.
The first two came from Rapinoe, who tapped in a ball from Rose Lavelle in the 16th minute.
The 2019 FIFA Player of the Year doubled the lead in the 26th, when she finished off a through ball from Carli Lloyd.
“We wanted to come out fast as always,” Rapinoe said. “It’s always dangerous to leave teams hanging around.”
Lloyd made it 3-0 in the 35th off a cross from Kristie Mewis on the left side of the box.
Mewis made it 4-0 in the 41st.
Alex Morgan lofted a shot over Argentina goalkeeper Solana Pereyra in the 84th — her first goal since the birth of her daughter, Charlie, in May.
Christen Press finished off the scoring with a header in the 88th.
The reigning World Cup champions have not lost a game since a defeat to France in January 2019.
In the first match of the day’s double-header, goals from Debinha and Julia Bianchi lifted Brazil over Canada.
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