The U.S. women's national soccer team expected a smoother ride against Colombia than France in group play at the 2012 Olympics. In one sense, it has been, with the Americans up 1-0 after a brilliant goal by Megan Rapinoe. But Abby Wambach's rougher half may balance it out.
Rapinoe fired a brilliant strike from just outside the box in the 33rd minute on a feed from Alex Morgan to produce the only goal of the first half, then pulled a birthday message to former national team player Ali Krieger out of her sock and displayed it.
Wambach's tough half may be the story of the day so far, however. Shortly after Rapinoe's goal, Wambach was crumpled by a shot from Colombia's Lady Andrade and stayed down for the better part of a minute. Replay showed that Andrade delivered a shot to Wambach's eye, but the foul was away from the ball, no referee was near the play as it happened, and no foul was assessed.
Chippy play continued through the end of the half, as Rapinoe got involved in a bit of a squabble in extra time.
We'll have coverage of all of Saturday's games in our 2012 Olympics, Women's Soccer Day 2 StoryStream.