USL at the Women’s World Cup >>

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Group play finished up Tuesday with the United States taking on Nigeria, needing just a draw to advance, and North Korea facing Sweden, needing nothing worse than a two-goal loss to becoming a surprising Quarterfinalist.

Group B: United States 1 :: 0 Nigeria

Not needing much to move on, the US did just that in another rain-soaked match - and only needed 60 seconds to do so. The Americans edged the Nigerian squad on a deflected shot from Lori Chalupny from eight yards out less than a minute into the match and held on to finish top of the group at 2-0-1 with the victory. The goal at the 55-second mark was the second fastest in Women’s World Cup history.

Former Rochester Raven (now Rhinos) Abby Wambach, who has three goals in the tournament, set up the game-winner when she flicked a throw-in from former New Jersey Wildcat Cat Whitehill. Chalupny’s shot deflected off the leg of a Nigerian defender, sending it the opposite direction of goalkeeper Precious Dede. Nine former W-League players saw action in the match for the US.

USSF Full Report [+]        FIFA Full Report [+] 


Group B: Sweden 2 :: 1 North Korea

In a thriller that was a big must-win situation for Sweden, who needed a victory by the margin of three to advance, the Swedes got on the board early with a strike from Charlotta Schelin four minutes in. North Korea put the game on level terms in the 22nd on a brilliant 25-yard strike by Ri Un Suk to the upper right corner on a fast-paced counter-attack. Schelin would score a second in the 54th, but it would not be enough as Sweden fell short in goal differential despite downing North Korea for the win.

FIFA Full Report [+]


Quarterfinals:  As winners of Group B, the United States will face England, Group A’s runner-up, in the Quarterfinals Saturday. Second-place finisher North Korea will take on the defending tournament champion Germany.

Several players on the field for the US-England match will be very familiar with one another. Five players were members of the 2005 W-League Champion New Jersey Wildcats with England’s Rachel Yankey and Rachel Unitt and America’s Cate Whitehill, Heather O’Reilly and Lindsay Tarplay. Kelly Smith played for the Wildcats in 2004 with O’Reilly as well as Carli Lloyd, but was unable to finish the season due to injury as the club went on to reach the final and finish runners-up to Vancouver in penalties. Unitt scored the opening and game-winning goal in the 2005 championship with O’Reilly capping the night with the third in their 3-0 win over Ottawa.