For the 10th time, USA’s national women’s football team has won the Algarve Cup, beating France in the final (2-0) held on Wednesday (March 11) at Estádio do Algarve.
Portugal finished in 11th position.
Julie Johnston gave the American squad an early lead seven minutes into the match, heading in a ball off a free kick. Christen Press scored the second goal at the 40th minute of the first half after pressing through a group of French defenders.
France almost got back into the game 10 minutes away from the final whistle, but a penalty shot by Amandine Henry was stopped by USA’s famous-albeit-controversial goalie Hope Solo.
It was the 10th time that USA has won the Algarve Cup.
Portugal, on the other hand, had another disappointing performance.
The national team narrowly avoided last place by securing its only win in the competition in a penalty shootout against China (8-7) after a 3-3 draw.
At Parchal’s Bela Vista stadium, China gained a comfortable 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to two victorious strikes from Yu Yanlu and Wang Shanshan , but Filipa Rodrigues and Laura Luís quickly levelled the scoreboard.
In the second half, Gu Yasha gave China the lead again at the 79th minute but a last-minute penalty netted by Dolores Silva led the match to the penalty shootout.
Portugal thus avoided its second consecutive year as the last-placed team.
Before its match with China, Portugal had been defeated by France (0-1) and Japan (0-3) and secured a draw against Denmark (2-2).
The final standings are as follows:
• USA
• France
• Germany
• Sweden
• Norway
• Denmark
• Brazil
• Switzerland
• Japan
• Iceland
• Portugal
• China
