The USA stretched its unbeaten streak under Coach Greg Ryan to 35 games with a 2-1 victory over China on goals by Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd Wednesday in its opening game of the 2007 Algarve Cup in Silves, Portugal.
Starting with a 3-4-3 formation that Ryan employed for the first time in their 2-0 win over China in January to win the Four Nations Tournament, the Americans ran up a 15-4 shot advantage on the Chinese. Cat Whitehill swept behind markers Christie Rampone and Tina Ellertson, with Stephanie Lopez and Lori Chalupny deployed on the flanks and Lloyd and Leslie Osborne in the middle. Up front, Ryan started Abby Wambach and Lilly, who were playing in their first matches of 2007, alongside Heather O'Reilly.
Lilly gave the USA the lead in the 19th minute on a penalty kick for her 118th career goal, scoring after Chinese defender Li Jie hauled down Wambach in the penalty area. China tied the game inside of two minutes when Han Duan scored on a header off a free kick taken by Liu Sa. Lloyd won the game with a shot from 25 yards off a pass from Lopez. Lloyd and Lopez were part of the young U.S. midfield that came in for praise from Ryan, under whom the USA is 28-0-7.
''Our midfield was great,'' he said. ''Chalups, Carli, Les and Steph were great. And to have a young group like that do so well in our midfield, I'm psyched to see. They've been working extremely hard in the past two years.''
In the other Group B match, Sweden clobbered Finland, 3-0. In the Group A matches, Norway upset Germany, 2-1, while Denmark walloped France, 4-0. In Group C, host Portugal tied Ireland, 1-1, and Italy defeated Iceland, 1-0.
USA-CHINA GAME SUMMARY:
March 7 in Silves
USA 2 China 1. Goals: Lilly pen. 19, Lloyd 38; Duan 21.
USA — Solo, Whitehill, Ellertson, Rampone, Lopez, Osborne, Lloyd, Chalupny, O'Reilly (Tarpley, 80), Wambach, Lilly.
China — Zhang Yanru, Li Jie (Wang, 86), Weng, Pu, Liu Yali, Bi (Zhang Tong, 70), Zhang Na, Qu (Zhang Ying, 70), Li Dongna, Han Duan, Liu Sa (Lou, 80).
Referee: Gyongyi Gaal (Hungary).
Att.: 500.