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BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil -- Tobin Heath was going to be healthy by Aug. 3.Fortunately, when the calendar reached the aforementioned date, it just so happened that she was healthy.When it comes to the Olympics, those two sentences dont mean the same thing.Slowed by a hamstring injury in the build-up to the Rio Games, Heath knew she would be healthy enough to play on Aug. 3, no matter what her hamstring suggested, because the U.S. womens national team took the field for the first time on that date. But in this particular instance, it didnt have to be a case of mind over matter. Her hamstring actually healed.Fortunately for me, I do feel fully healthy, Heath said the day before the game. But I do think in terms of tournament modes, you always just want to feel good enough.She was as good as her word. She was very good. Not coincidentally, the United States was good enough for a 2-0 win over New Zealand and a clean start in Group G ahead of Saturdays high-stakes second game against fellow gold-medal hopeful France (4 p.m. ET).It was a night when the small crowd in Belo Horizonte took increasing delight heckling U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo, the consensus among local media and native Portuguese speakers being that what began as chants of a slur often directed at goalkeepers upon kicking the ball soon morphed into similar-sounding chants of Zika in response to Solos publicly expressed concerns about the virus.After the game, Solo played down the reception. If fans had fun at her expense, she suggested, so be it.Nor was it all that malicious in the scheme of things -- if the interpretation of the changing chants was correct, the first should be far more troublesome than the second that merely needled a well-known player for public comments and social media posts. But in some sense its a shame that the whole audible sideshow took any focus off a player whose style should endear her to Brazilian soccer fans -- a player for whom Brazil is practically a pilgrimage.I think its a very special place to play, as a football player, Heath said of an Olympic career that has also taken her to some of the great soccer temples of English football.Asked about the chants, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said she hoped her team played a style the Brazilian fans could embrace.They do that better with Heath on the field than not.Consider the goal that put the Americans ahead in the ninth minute. Heath started the game on the left side, familiar space to her but also the real estate in which teenager Mallory Pugh has so often dazzled this year. On this sequence, Heath could have made a run for the end line to set up a cross. Instead, she cut back, avoided defenders and served a perfect cross toward the head of Carli Lloyd (or to improve the odds still more, Allie Longs nearby head).Lloyd sent a header back to where the service came from and found an empty net.Its really my job to get in the box and get on the end of crosses, Lloyd said. There is really no excuse. Ive been working on it. I can outleap people. Its one of those things where, its kind of been the next step for me, just getting on the end of crosses. I knew she was going to whip in a good ball and had to somehow get up there, leap up there and find the back of the net.The opening goal came quickly enough, but only after Heath had already served notice of her presence on the field with a free kick that gave Alex Morgan a clean header in front of the goal.Inside of 10 minutes, Heath set up the two players this team most needs to feed.As often as not, as in this instance, at least one of them is going to score.I think that was the best way we could have started, Heath said of Lloyds goal. Obviously we came out with a lot of energy, with a lot of determination. I think in that regard, we kind of put our best foot forward and got that goal, and I think that helped propel us throughout the game.Morgan scored the insurance goal early in the second half.It was yet another goal in a major tournament for Lloyd, who has scored in five such games in a row. The co-captain became one of 15 American women to play in at least three Olympics. It is her team now, and it is increasingly clear it follows her lead. But the list of players with at least three Olympics also now includes the player who set her up for the goal. Always popular but never quite one of the faces of the team, Heath has amassed 120 caps well before her 30th birthday. She has taken the field in the U.S. uniform more times than anyone on the active Olympic roster save Lloyd and Solo.I think Tobin has grown so much as a player, Lloyd said. She has become such a two-way midfielder. Not to say that she didnt work hard when she was a younger player, but I think shes now got the discipline to track back and win balls, win second balls, tackle. Shes a phenomenal player. Shes soaring with confidence and a super, super important piece to this team.Ellis singled out many of those same traits -- Heaths value as an attacking player, the ability to take on opponents one-on-one and her ability to put the ball on the foot of teammates. She talked, too, about the work rate, the one that forced New Zealand player after New Zealand player to bring her to the ground, either in pursuit or after turning over the ball. Sure, Heath knows how to make the most of that contact, earning a sarcastic pat on the shoulder from Ria Percival after the latter received a yellow card for a tangling of feet. Great players do.But there is more that Heath offers, traits that Pugh, who left her Olympic debut with a minor right ankle issue, and Crystal Dunn dont have at such early stages of such astoundingly promising careers.The other thing we get with Tobin is a player thats been there and someone who can calm us in the storm, Ellis said. There were moments in that game when momentum was building for them. And having players like this that are very comfortable on the ball helps take the steam out of your opponent.If not the steam out of the crowd.Solo was the lightning rod this night, but as she so often does, Heath sparked a team to life.James Bourque Nationals Jersey . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Fake Nationals Jerseys . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. https://www.cheapnationals.com/1287r-daniel-hudson-jersey-nationals.html . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. Victor Robles Nationals Jersey . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Daniel Hudson Nationals Jersey .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy.The New Orleans Saints on Tuesday signed Jarrius Robertson to be their hype man for Sundays game against the Kansas City Chiefs.Who Dat?Robertson, 14, is a Saints super fan. He also is battling biliary atresia -- a chronic liver disease which affects his physical growth -- and has been in and out of hospitals since receiving a liver transplant when he was 1. He now needs another and is on the waiting list. He has had 13 surgeries, and at one point was in a coma for an entire year.Robertsons attitude has made a lasting impression on the Saints since players met him last December at Ochsner Hospital For Children in New Orleans. During that visit,?he gave defensive players instructions and told players to tell Sean Payton you got a new defensive coordinator! shortly after Rob Ryan was fired.Robertson, who often attends practices or games and provides constructive criticism, then began doing videos with the team, including one where hhe comically told soft-spoken receiver Marques Colston to stop trying to be Mr.dddddddddddd. Show-Off.As a coach, you love it when you see someone with his energy, Saints coach Sean Payton said during an appearance on ABCs Good Morning America on Tuesday. He is on everyones butt, trust me.Payton, quarterback Drew Brees and defensive end Cameron Jordan appeared on Good Morning America to surprise Robertson by making him an honorary member of the team.?Robertson, who was presented with a contract, will fly with the team to Kansas City along with his father for Sundays game against the Chiefs and will serve as the Saints social media reporter for the game.Said Robertson, who quickly signed the contract: You dont have to tell me twice!ESPN Staff Writer Mike Triplett and ABC News contributed to this report. ' ' '