US Women Shut Out Sweden
du Nord, September 14, 2007
USA v Sweden - Women's World Cup report by du Nord reader AdamGroup Stage Match 2:USA 2-0 SwedenIn their second group game of the Women’s World Cup, the United States recorded their first win of the competition, blanking Sweden 2-0. More importantly, the victory gave the US team three valuable points (four total after the tie against North Korea) and put them in a good position to qualify for the quarterfinals.With another slow start, the Americans didn’t put on the dominating performance they’d hoped for after a lackluster showing in their first match. Team USA had to survive an early onslaught that saw Sweden earn four corner kicks in the first five minutes of the match. Hope Solo did well to punch two of those attempts out of her box, quickly putting to rest any doubt that she should be the starting keeper after her unfortunate blunder in the North Korea game.The Swedes kept the US pinned into their defensive end for the first 20 minutes of the match, as the Americans struggled to clear the ball past midf