The United States made it a perfect three wins out of three at the Women’s World Cup on Thursday by beating Sweden 2-0 to top Group F, while Ajara Nchout fired Cameroon into the last 16 with a last-gasp winner.
The Americans will continue their bid to defend their world title against Spain in Reims on Monday after a win that saw them make it 18 goals for the tournament and break the 24-year-old record for the number of goals scored in the group stage held by Norway.
Lindsey Horan opened the scoring when she tapped home Samantha Mewis’ flick with two minutes on the clock, and Tobin Heath helped make sure of the points by firing past Hedvig Lindahl via a big deflection off Jonna Andersson four minutes after the break.
There was heartbreak for Chile meanwhile, who needed to beat Thailand by three goals in order to pip Nigeria into the knockouts.
They were 2-0 up with five minutes left when they were awarded a penalty via VAR, only for Francisca Lara to crash her spot-kick off the bar and see her side knocked out.
Just 10 seconds of the allotted five minutes of added time remained in Montpellier when Nchout curled her team into the next round as one of the best third-placed teams with a superb strike to beat New Zealand 2-1. -AFP
