After winning their first two games by a combined scored of 5-0, the No. 1-ranked U.S. lost their first-ever Women's World Cup group stage match, 2-1, to Sweden on Wednesday. With their advancement to the quarterfinals already sealed and only their opponent to be decided, the U.S. fell behind early when defender Amy LePeilbet earned a yellow card for crashing into Sweden's Lotta Schelin in the box. Lisa Dahlkvist converted the ensuing penalty kick to give Sweden a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute and end Hope Solo's clean-sheet streak at 781 minutes.
The match got worse for LePeilbet when she deflected a Nilla Fischer free kick into the U.S. goal to give Sweden a 2-0 advantage before halftime. LePeilbet was mercifully subbed off in the 59th minute.
The U.S. did eventually finish one of their many chances when Abby Wambach broke her goal drought in the 67th minute, but the match would end with a 2-1 score and the Swedes doing what looked like some variation of the Hokey Pokey.
Because of the loss, the U.S. women's quarterfinal opponent will be Brazil, which beat them 4-0 in the 2007 Women's World Cup semis. Also, no team has ever won the WWC after losing a match in the group stage. But on a positive note, at least the weather in Germany has been nice since they've been there.
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