USA open World Cup campaign with hard-fought win over Vietnam

Many were expecting a massive scoreline in favour of the four-time World Cup champions, similar to 13-0 thrashing they gave Thailand four years ago, but the Vietnamese women - making their debut in the tournament - proved a much tougher nut to crack.

Nevertheless, goals from Sophia Smith on either side of halftime, and a 77th-minute strike from Lindsay Horan, secured a comfortable enough result for the USA, even though it wasn't the kind of dominant performance many had predicted.

"I think that's the point of Vietnam is to frustrate us, is to make it hard for us to break them down," Morgan said after the game. "I think there were ebbs and flows of the game that were frustrating at times, but I think that at the end of the day, we just have to capitalize on the chances that we get."

The Americans also didn't make it easy for themselves, with only eight of their 24 attempts at goal finding the target.

"I wouldn't say that I expected more goals, but with the way that we played and the opportunities that we created, I sure wanted to see more goals and I thought that we deserved to score more goals," said USA head coach Vlatko Andonovski.

Still, with several players making their debuts for a team coming together for the first time - including goal-scoring hero Smith - Andonovski said he was happy with the result and the performance.

"I want to say that I expected it and I'm happy with the way they played. They met my expectations," Andonovski said. "Now, I do also believe that going into game two, they will go a little more encouraged, less noise, no stress."

The United States will be back in action on Thursday when they face much tougher opponents in the Netherlands.