USA vs. Japan: Americans Pick Up Key Victory in Preparation for Olympics

Japan has given the United States women's national team a lot of problems over the past few years, which makes today's American victory in the Sweden Invitational a perfectly timed confidence boost with the Olympics looming.

It all started at last year's World Cup when Japan shocked Team USA with late tying goals in both regulation and extra time before winning the game with penalty kicks. Since then, Japan had scored another victory and a draw against the powerful American squad.

In other words, the Japanese stars seemed to have their number. With both teams in the Olympic field, it was important for the United States to turn the tide back in its favor before London, and they did exactly that on Monday.

The dynamic striker duo of Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach scored all four goals in a dominating 4-1 victory. Along with a win over Sweden two days ago, the Americans became the tournament champions as their tune-up schedule winds to a close.

It's never been a question of talent. The United States are still the top-ranked team in the world, just ahead of Germany and Japan, but the pesky Japanese squad was able to cause problems for the usually unstoppable American attack.

Scoring four goals should ease any concerns manager Pia Sundhage had about her team's ability to find the net against Japan and asserts Team USA as the favorite heading into London.

The Americans do have one final friendly to take care of at month's end against Canada. It's a team they beat 4-0 earlier in the year and have a strong track record against in the past, making it a chance to ensure everything is in order before the pressure picks up.

Team USA finds itself in Group G alongside France, Colombia and North Korea. It's actually a very similar group as the last World Cup with France replacing Sweden. The United States beat Colombia and North Korea by a combined 5-0 score in Germany.

That familiarity, along with a significant talent advantage, should help the Americans cruise through the group stage. But Japan is lurking, which makes today's triumph even more important as the team attempts to repeat as gold medal winners.

Since Germany didn't qualify for the event, Japan seems like the biggest hurdle to jump over in order to reach that goal.

Based on the win, the United States squad should feel pretty good about its chances.