United States wins opening game 3-1 at World Cup

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 22, 2003

United States wins opening game 3-1 at World Cup

The United States started their reigning campaign with a flying start as they beat Sweden 3-1 on Sunday in their opening match of the Women's World Cup at the RFK Stadium.

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The United States started their reigning campaign with a flying start as they beat Sweden 3-1 on Sunday in their opening match of the Women's World Cup at the RFK Stadium.

In a Group B match, Brazil disposed of South Korea 3-0 and top the group over Norway by goal difference.

The United States tallied three points from the victory but trailed Democratic People's Republic of Korea by goal difference. DPR Korea defeated Group A opponent Nigeria 3-0 on Saturday.

The Americans had better start with a younger front lineup -- Abby Wambach and Cindy Parlow, but almost lost their goalkeeper Briana Scurry. Scurry brought down Sweden's forward Hanna Ljungberg severely in the 13th minute, and was luckyby receiving only a yellow card for her hard tackle.

After several attack efforts ended in vain, Wambach, Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly distributed a well-knotted front-line cross chain, before Lilly's left-foot strike put the Americans ahead in the 26th minutes.

Parlow headed another one in the 36th minutes from Hamm's precise corner, which was a reward for Wambach's hard work at the right bottom.

The re-organized Swedes came back in the second half as Victoria Svensson put in a well-deserved header from a cross of Ljungberg in the 58th minute.

But Americans pulled away again twenty minutes later when Shannon Boxx headed in Hamm's another perfect corner, which sealed the victory for the home team.

Brazil, the South American champions, constantly found space behind South Korea's back, but their finishes gave little threats to their opponents.

The inexperienced South Koreans made too many mistakes to allowBrazilians to penetrate. Kim Kyul Sil handled the ball inside the box in the 14th minute and Marta converted a penalty.

In the 55th minute, Daniela quickly fed a free-kick into the box and Katia fired past Kim Jung Mi to give Brazil a 2-0 lead.

Katia put the game beyond reach in the 62nd minute, beating South Korea's offside trap from midfield to slam home her 17th goal in only 13 caps.

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