Sophia Smith scored twice and set up another as a new-look United States launched their bid to win a third Women’s World Cup in a row with a 3-0 victory over Vietnam on Saturday.
One of six members of the USA starting line-up making her World Cup debut, lively forward Smith finished a fine move to open the scoring in the 14th minute at Eden Park in Auckland.
Veteran Alex Morgan was then denied from the penalty spot before Smith struck again deep in stoppage time at the end of the first half in front of a crowd of just over 41,000.