US Ladies Shut Down Sweden by Poul-Henrik Worm - September 14, 2007 |
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| ▪ USWNT Held in WC Opener | |
In their second game of the group stage of the 2007 Women's World Cup, the US defeated Sweden 2-0 at Chengdu Sports Center on Friday afternoon. |
▪ Cat Leads and Follows |
| ▪ UPDATE: Catalonia Match Nixed | |
| While largely US-dominated, the beginning of the first half went by without incident. The first major chance came by coincidence when a long free kick from Cat Whitehill took a course for the top corner, but Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl diverted it over. Lindahl came to the rescue again for the Swedes in the very next minute when Kristine Lilly took a shot from the edge of the box. Swedish chances were scarce throughout the game, but after 28 minutes, Victoria Svensson fired just over from the edge of the box. US keeper Hope Solo got her fingertips to it on the way, but Swedish appeals for a corner were ignored. The opening goal came four minutes later when a long ball from Kate Markgraf bounced over keeper Lindahl. Lori Chalupny chased it, but was brought down by Segerström and Abby Wambach executed coolly from the penalty spot. The US came out looking for an early second half goal, and only three minutes in, Wambach squared the ball to Lilly in front of goal, but her effort went just wide. Nine minutes later, however, a diagonal pass from Lilly into the area found an open Wambach, who took it down to make it 2-0. Down by two, the Swedes started to come forward more, but they had difficulty creating chances against a strong US defense. With 12 minutes to go, however, a cross from Svensson was headed for the goal, but Solo punched it over for a corner. Svensson took the corner from the left and found Hanna Ljungberg, but her header went just wide and the score would stand. The US will face Nigeria on Tuesday in the final game of the group stage. Scoring USA - Abby Wambach 2 (PK) 34' USA - Abby Wambach 3 (Kristine Lilly) 58' Line-ups USA - Hope Solo; Cat Whitehill, Christie Rampone, Kate Markgraf, Lori Chalupny, Leslie Osborne (Shannon Boxx 46'), Carli Lloyd, Stephanie Lopez, Lindsay Tarpley (Heather O'Reilly 64'), Kristine Lilly, Abby Wambach SWE - Hedvig Lindahl; Stina Segerström (Therese Lundin 81'), Hanna Marklund, Caroline Seger, Charlotta Schelin, Hanna Ljungberg, Victoria Svensson, Frida Östberg, Therese Sjögran (Nilla Fischer 65'), Anna Paulson, Linda Forsberg |
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