VANCOUVER, British Columbia • In the end, the U.S. women's soccer team is returning to the Olympics. But the players won't soon forget how hard they had to work get there.

The Americans booked their trip to London on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. The victory puts the Americans into the tournament final Sunday, against the winner of the late game Friday between Mexico and Canada.

Tobin Heath scored in the 16th minute to give U.S. all the scoring it needed, and goals by Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Alex Morgan (89th) put away the game late.

However, the top-ranked Americans were less crisp than when they were beating teams by a combined 31-0 earlier in the tournament and drawing criticism for running up the score.

Costa Rica is ranked No. 41 in the world, never has qualified for an Olympics or a World Cup and never has scored on the U.S. in eight meetings. However, Las Ticas occasionally frustrated the Americans with physical play and just missed on two solid scoring chances in the first half in the London-or-bust match. As the possibility of an upset lingered in the second half, the underdogs gained the rousing support of the Canadian fans at BC Place.

But unflappable American defenders Kelley O'Hara, Rachel Buehler, Christie Rampone and Amy LePeilbet combined with goalkeeper Hope Solo to keep Costa Rica out of the net. Solo played despite a slightly pulled right quadriceps.

The U.S. will be the two-time defending champions in London, winning gold in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008. The Americans finished second at the World Cup last year in Germany, losing to Japan in the final.