Shannon MacMillan's fourth-minute goal Sunday carried the U.S. women's national team past Norway and into the Group A driver's seat at the Algarve Cup in Portugal.
The victory in Ferreiras was the Americans' third in succession over their longtime rivals, and it afforded them a two-point lead in the tournament's toughest group with one match, Tuesday against Sweden in Vila Real San Antonio, to play.
The U.S. women have four points, and Sweden and Canada each have two. Norway has one point. The group's top team will face the Group B winner in Thursday's final. The United States, making its eighth Algarve Cup appearance, has won the tournament just once, in 2000.
Sweden and Canada tied, 1-1, in Sunday's other Group A match.
In Friday's action, U.S. playmaker Aly Wagner's 85th-minute goal answered Randee Hermus' seventh-minute strike in a 1-1 tie with Canada in Olhao. Norway and Sweden also tied, 1-1.
China is on top in Group B play with four points after a 0-0 tie with Finland and a 3-0 romp over France. The French have three points, earned in a 3-0 victory over Demnark, with WUSA MVP Marinette Pichon tallying twice. Finland and Denmark tied, 0-0.
MacMillan's 10th career Algarve goal was the difference in a difficult encounter played in gusty winds on a bumpy field. She blocked Norway goalkeeper Ingrid Hjelmseth's clearance of a back pass, ran down the spinning ball on the left end line and bent a 12-yard shot between the keeper and the near post from a tight angle.
Danielle Slaton, returning from knee surgery, made her first appearance with the national team since last summer.