The United States made light work of minnows Zambia as they began their Paris Olympics campaign with a 3-0 victory.

There had been pressure on the USA going into the game after two poor warm-up displays, including a 0-0 draw to Costa Rica, but Emma Hayes' team ran out comfortable winners in the former Chelsea boss' first competitive match in charge.

All of the damage was done in the first half, with the Americans three goals up after just 25 minutes in Nice - Trinity Rodman opening the scoring before a quickfire double from Mallory Swanson.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist started as they meant to go on, hitting the crossbar early on through Rodman and Swanson before the former opened her account for the tournament with a drilled finish past Zambia goalkeeper Ng'ambo Musole.

They doubled their advantage thanks to Chicago Red Stars forward Swanson, and she was on hand again to virtually end the contest just a minute later after good work down the left from Sophia Smith.

Zambia's woes were compounded by a red card dished out to Pauline Zulu, which was initially given as a yellow but was upgraded following a VAR review.

Zulu was adjudged to have been the last player when she brought down 18-year-old Smith, and her dismissal all but ended Zambia's slender comeback hopes.

Data Debrief: History made in Hayes' competitive debut

Though the USA had gone into the contest lacking rhythm and form, which raised hopes of a Zambian upset, it was not to be found, with Hayes' side enjoying complete domination from the start. The USA created chances worth an xG of 4.96 to Zambia's meagre 0.37, while they also had 27 shots to Zambia's eight, with 25 of those coming from inside the box. 

Hayes became the first coach to win their first major tournament match in charge of the USA by a margin of three or more goals. Meanwhile, with assists in the 17th and 24th minute, Horan is the first player in USWMT history to record two assists in the opening 30 minutes of a major tournament. 

Swanson's goals came 66 seconds apart, making them the fastest two goals by a single player in a major tournament in the team's history.

Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson says his team simply wasn’t good enough in their 0-5 hammering by defending World Champions the USA in the Concacaf Women’s Championship on Thursday.

The Americans sprinted out to a 2-0 lead through goals from Sophia Smith in the fifth and eighth minutes before adding three more goals in the second half through Rose Lavelle (59^th), Kristie Mewis (83^rd) and Trinity Rodman (86^th) to complete the 5-0 demolition at the Estadio BBVA Bancomer.

“I didn’t think it’d take 10 minutes. We gave up two goals in six minutes and you’re not going to play the World Champs and expect anything out of the game playing the way we did. We weren’t good,” Donaldson said in a post-match press conference.

“The Americans are the best team in the world. When you play the champions at the top of their game, bad things will happen if you don’t play well and we didn’t,” Donaldson added.

The Reggae Girlz are now third in Group A with three points after two games with their third and final preliminary encounter coming against Haiti on Monday.

The Haitians also have three points and will go into that game with supreme confidence after a convincing 3-0 win over Mexico on Thursday.

The winner of Monday’s match will join the USA as automatic qualifiers to next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand while the loser will most likely have to book their spot through an inter-continental playoff.

“I think we’re going to be fine and ready,” Donaldson said.