played during a constant rain and on a soggy pitch -- won't go down into the USA's storied history of great performances, but it counted as three points and boosted them to the Group B crown.
"To go through without a loss in this group, I'm very, very happy," U.S. coach Greg Ryan said.
So, instead of playing dreaded Germany this early in the tournament, the U.S. takes on England in Tianjin on Saturday (ESPN, 7:55 a.m. ET).
In a first-round group that featured three of the top five ranked teams in the world -- the U.S. was No. 1, North Korea third and Sweden fifth -- the USA did not play up to their potential. But they played well enough to move on. They opened with a 2-2 draw with the Koreans, which raised eyebrows in the international soccer community and followed that with a solid 2-0 triumph against Sweden before besting 24th-ranked Nigeria at Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium.
"To be the best you have to play against the best teams," U.S. captain Kristine Lilly said. "That's what it takes to win and we have three games under us now. Now we have to play some better soccer to continue our quest to win the World Cup."
The differences in the game were midfielder Lori Chalupny's fifth international goal 53 seconds into the match, the second quickest goal in the 16-year history of the competition, goalkeeper Hope Solo and a tough backline that refused to crack in the rain-soaked match.
"We should hold our heads high, but I think it's mixed feelings right now because we know that we have better soccer in us," forward Heather O'Reilly said.
Chalupny's goal certainly wasn't a work of art, but it counted all the same.
Defender Cat Whitehill started the sequence with a throw-in from the left sideline that found Abby Wambach in the penalty area. Wambach headed the ball to Chapulny, whose seven-yard shot was deflected by a Nigerian player in the goal area.
"It's a set piece we've been working on," Chalupny said. "Abby just got the perfect flick on it, kind of what we draw up in practice, and it just happened to bounce right to me. So I was able to get a touch on it and slide it away."
Added Ryan: "You take any goal you can, but getting a quick one -- now they've got to come at you. It gives you better chances going the other direction. It's a great way to start."
The problem was the U.S. never got another goal after that to give them some breathing room.
They were forced to hold their collective breaths on several occasions, but Solo came through with some key saves in the waning minutes.
Solo's most important save came on Rita Chikwelu's header from the left side of the penalty area in the 79th minute. She also pounded on a loose ball during a goal-mouth scramble for the ball in the 87th minute.
"We went up 1-0 early in the game and I didn't get much action until later in the game," Solo said. "But I knew it was going to come, it was only a matter of time. That's the life of a goalkeeper. You would think that it's easy to get unfocused when you don't touch the ball for so long, but my job is to stay focused for 90 minutes, which I did. It came in handy during the final five minutes of the game."
If there was a downside to the match, it was the fact the USA could not secure a second goal and get some breathing room to allow Ryan to rest such key players as Wambach and Lilly early on.
Lilly eventually was replaced by Lindsay Tarpley in the 84th minute, but Wambach, playing with 11 stitches in her head and an ailing big right toe, played the entire 90 minutes. In fact, Wambach gave the U.S. a scare when she went down twice while battling for the ball in the right corner.
Wambach and the USA are two wins away from the Sept. 30 final in Shanghai and three wins away from winning an unprecedented third world championship. No other team has won the title twice.
"I think what you see in the U.S. team is that we have all the talent that we need to go to the final stages of this tournament," Ryan said. "Our team defending, as a group, makes it very difficult to beat us. Even when we are not playing our best football, I think we will be able to take that into the next round and the round after and I do believe that this team has the ability to advance to the final and win this World Cup."
But first, the U.S. must get past England Saturday.
"I think that if we play better soccer we have a chance of winning," Lilly said. "But both teams are going to be fighting to go on. It's going to be a great match."
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
