Twice winners the United States and the arguable Dark Horses DPR Korea jointly topped the table of World Cup Group B after both claiming 2-0 victories here on Friday in their second round-robin matches.
Abby Wambach scored twice to lead the United States to win over Sweden in the toughest group of the tournament, while DPR Korea sealed the victory over Nigeria within the opening 21 minutes to teach the five-time African champions what the quality of Dark Horses is.
The first round matches of the Group of Death had both ended in draws on Tuesday, with the U.S. and DPR Korea, which tied on 2-2, leading on goal differential against Sweden and Nigeria on 1-1.
"I'm very proud of my players," said the U.S. coach Greg Ryan at a post-match press conference. "We knew it would be a die-or-not game after the DPR Korea tie, and all my players performed well in both attacks and defence, especially the goalkeeper, Hope Solo, she's pretty good."
"There's a lot of great teams in the tournament," added the 50-year-old. "With the 2-0 win, we're back to the winning way, and showed that we're able to win the trophy. But there's long road to go before we making the final and we'll vie to make it step by step."
Wambach scored a tight-angle penalty in the 34th minute after Swedish goalie Hedvig Lindahl pounded off a free kick from Carli Lloyd and midfielder Lori Chalupny paced up for the lose ball but was tackled down by Stina Segerstrom inside the box.
The 27-year-old Wambach, a tall girl with a bleeding head and a numbed toe injured in Tuesday's 2-2 tie against the DPR Koreans, made it double for the top-ranked Americans at 58, setting piece against two Swedish defenders to goal after receiving a a nice pass from Leslie Osborne from left wing.
Sweden's leading scorer Hanna Ljungberg was upset on the defeat, but insisted that she's never lost confidence.
"We don't cry for lose," she said. "It's just the second match in group. It's far from the end yet."
Later in the evening, DPR Korea, which narrowly missed out their chances of making the quarterfinals in last edition of the tournament four years ago on the United States soil, kept sternly in a attacking mood on Friday and took a full dominance over the pitch from the right beginning of the game.
Midfielder Kim Kyong Hwa made breakthrough for the twice former Asian champions, swinging in a superb left corner directly in the 17th minute.
Just four minutes later, Kim launched another corner, and uncautioned skipper Ri Kum Suk came up to the ball from far point to head in the second for the Koreans.
Source: Xinhua
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