U.S. women beat France at Algarve Cup, earn spot in final
By Dirk Hinrichs, The Associated Press
FARO, Portugal — Kristine Lilly scored three minutes into the game, and the United States went on to beat France 4-1 Monday and will play for the Algarve Cup title against Women's World Cup champion Germany.
Aly Wagner, Lindsay Tarpley and Natasha Kai also scored the Americans, who clinched first place in Group B. Hoda Lattaf had the lone goal for France.
Wednesday's title game will be a repeat of last year's final, when the Americans won 1-0 to capture a third straight crown.
Germany defeated Norway 1-0 with on Petra Wimbersky's goal in the last minute of injury time. Germany already had won Group A after beating Finland and Sweden.
"They'll be a great challenge for us as we're only just starting to come together," U.S. coach Greg Ryan said.
Lilly scored the 109th goal of her career with a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area that went in off the crossbar.
Blunders by the French defense allowed the Americans to stretch their lead in the 52nd when Wagner scored from inside the penalty area. Tarplay then hit a left-footed volley in the 54th to put the game beyond France's reach.
Lattaf scored for France with a short volley in the 64th. France midfielder Sandrine Soubeyrand was then shown her second yellow card and sent off. Kai entered in the 73rd and scored three minutes later, lobbing a shot over goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi to complete the U.S. victory.
The United States won its group with seven points. China beat Denmark 6-0 in the other group game. On Monday, Sweden beat Finland 4-1 to finish second in Group A. In Group C, which does not compete for the title, Mexico routed Portugal 6-0.
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