Sweden beat DPRK; US thrash Nigeria 5-0

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 27, 2003

Sweden beat DPRK; US thrash Nigeria 5-0

Sweden avoided elimination in the Women's World Cup by beating Asian champion the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 1-0 on Thursday.

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Sweden beats DPRK 1-0

Sweden avoided elimination in the Women's World Cup by beating Asian champion the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) 1-0 on Thursday.

Sweden couldn't afford a second loss in the Cup's toughest group after an opening 3-1 drubbing from the United States.

A seventh-minute goal by Victoria Svensson carried the day as Sweden withstood a late charge from North Korea, which opened Group A with a 3-0 win over African champ Nigeria.

Also Thursday, the United States thrashed Nigeria 5-0 and Russia downed Ghana 3-0, while Australia held heavily favoured China to a 1-1 draw.

Sweden scored on a clever chip pass from Malin Andersson to Svensson. Deep in the penalty area, Svensson volleyed home a shot with her right foot in the seventh minute.

DPR Korea outshot opponents 60-3 in qualifying but Sweden was a huge step up in competition, and the Koreans had only one shot in the first half.

In Philadelphia, Mia Hamm was unstoppable for the second straight World Cup game, scoring two early goals, then setting up another in the second half as the United States routed Nigeria.

Hamm converted a penalty kick in the sixth minute with a shot low to the right corner after Cindy Parlow was knocked down in the area by Nigerian captain Florence Omagbemi.

In the 12th minute Hamm sent a 32-metre free kick that beat goalkeeper Precious Dede. Two minutes later, she nearly had a hat trick, her twisting shot from the left wing barely missing.

Nigeria had a goal disallowed on a very close offside call seconds after Hamm's miss. Otherwise, with rare exceptions, the Americans controlled the pace and possession.

Parlow got her second goal of the tournament two minutes into the second half and Abby Wambach scored in the 65th.

The Americans took the lead in Group A with six points, but have not clinched a quarterfinal spot. They play North Korea on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, needing only a tie to advance.

In Carson California, Bai Jie scored in the 46th minute as China settled for a tie with Australia.

The Chinese, who lost to the United States on penalty kicks in the 1999 Cup final, were on the attack for most of the Group D match against the defence-minded Australians.

Heather Garriock scored in the 28th minute to give the upstart Australians (1-0-1) a short-lived lead.

China (1-0-1), ranked fourth in the world to Australia's 15th, kept the pressure on most of the second half, but Australia's defence crowded back into its own zone to turn back repeated threats.

"They (Australia) did a great job as a team, made it difficult for us to score," China coach Ma Liangxing said through an interpreter. "It was a very exciting match. I expect in the next game we can play better than in this one."

Earlier, Marina Saenko got one goal and started another scoring play as Russia beat Ghana.

The Russians improved to 2-0 in Group D. They opened with a 2-1 victory over Australia and next face China, heavily favoured to win the group. The top two teams advance.

Saenko scored on a free kick in the 36th minute, Natalia Barbachina made it 2-0 in the 54th and Olga Letyushova capped the scoring with a close-range volley in the 80th minute.

Russia goalkeeper Alla Volkova, sometimes rushing to the top of the box to turn away scoring threats, was particularly effective when Ghana had breakaways.

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China held 1-1 by Austrilia in women's soccer World Cup

Russia beat Ghana 3-0 in Women's World Cup

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