When the U.S. women's soccer team started play in CONCACAF's women's World Cup qualifying tournament, the seed of doubt on the landscape was just big enough to be noticeable.
Maybe it was planted by some rocky performances since the upset loss to Sweden at the Olympics two years ago. Maybe it was planted by the ghost of the U.S. men's team, fair or not.
In Sunday's tournament semifinal, Tobin Heath grabbed that seed and blasted it into the stratosphere.
The New Jersey native scored just 100 seconds into the game to kick off a 6-0 rout of Jamaica at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, that clinched a berth in next year's World Cup in France.