China Too Much for Sweden, 2-1

Tight play, sharp passing and superb goalkeeping led China to a 2-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday, the opening day of the Women’s World Cup.

Swedish midfielder Kristen Bengtsson, the oldest player on the team at 29, scored the first goal two minutes into the game--cracking a hard, high ball into the upper left corner of the net.

China’s goalie, Gao Hong, got her hand on it but the ball slid in.

The second-fastest goal in Women’s World Cup history--Sweden scored in the first minute in 1991 against Japan--was also Sweden’s only goal of the game.

Fifteen minutes later, China came back when Liu Ying knocked a sweeping corner kick across the front of Sweden’s goal and Jin Yan headed it down into the corner, just past the fingertips of diving goalie Ulrika Karlsson.

China’s decisive goal came in 68th minute when Liu Ailing kicked a low, fast shot into the middle of the net. Her goal, assisted by Liu Ying, came at the end of a string of seven passes all the way down the field by China.

Coordinated, neat play distinguished China, contrasting with Sweden’s faster, more aggressive style. Gao, one of the top goalies in women’s soccer, recovered after her initial miss to stop several tough shots.

Sweden beat China, 1-0, in the 1991 World Cup quarterfinals. In the 1995 World Cup, China won, 4-3, on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.

Japan 1, Canada 1--Nami Otake scored on a rebound midway through the second half to give Japan the tie. Silvana Burtini scored in the first half for Canada.

Japan came out of its defensive shell in the second half, scoring the tying goal minutes after Burtini left the field with a reaggravated left hamstring injury.

Tamaki Uchiyama took a long shot with her left foot that slammed off the crossbar and ricocheted in front of the net. Canadian goalie Nicci Wright had no time to recover before Otake slid the ball into the net in the 64th minute.

Otake, who scored seven goals in qualifying matches for the World Cup, had two other excellent scoring chances.

In the first half, her long shot deflected off the crossbar. In the second half, just seven minutes before her goal, she had a shot smothered by Wright at the side of the Canadian net.

Burtini scored midway through the first half, forcing her way past a Japanese defender and flicking the ball with her right foot past goalie Nozomi Yamago.

Burtini scored 14 goals in five games during the qualifying tournament, including eight goals in Canada’s 21-0 win over Puerto Rico, to more than double her career international scoring total to 27 goals.

By becoming so adept at scoring, she gave Canada an offensive threat to complement leading goal scorer Charmaine Hooper--who got an assist on Burtini’s goal but otherwise had a quiet night after getting an early yellow card.

Hooper headed the ball near midfield and it bounced high down the field.

Burtini sped toward the ball and pushed her way past defender Tomoe Sakai to get free for the shot.

A crowd of 23,289--about 3,000 under capacity--attended the game. Some of those fans unfurled a huge Japanese flag that covered several rows of the stands in the second half.