FERREIRAS, Portugal (March 9, 2007) – The U.S. Women’s National Team produced many chances but few goals in a 1-0 win over Finland on the second match day of the 2007 Algarve Cup, doing enough to earn the all-important three points and will face Sweden on March 12 in its final Group B match for a spot in the championship game.

The USA’s third and last Group B match will take place on Monday in Vila Real de San Antonio and the Americans need a win to make the title game. The match will kickoff at 8 p.m. local time / 4 p.m. ET and fans can follow all the action in this crucial contest on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

Sweden pulled out a 1-0 victory over China on a 90th minute goal in the other Group B match and is tied with the USA for the group lead with six points a piece, but Sweden is ahead on the crucial tie-breaker – goal difference – at plus-four goal to the USA’s plus-two, meaning a tie in the final group game will send the Swedes to the championship against the winner of Group A.

For the second match in a row, U.S. midfielder Carli Lloyd scored the deciding goal, after also blasting in the winner during the 2-1 victory over China on March 7. Amazingly, it came on her first touch of the game after she entered the match at halftime. After a first half in which the USA enjoyed almost all of the play, but created just a few good scoring chances, U.S. WNT head coach Greg Ryan made five changes during the break, sending in Kristine Lilly and Abby Wambach up front, Lloyd and Lori Chalupny in the midfield and Stephanie Lopez in the back.

The moves paid off immediately as three substitutes figured in the goal. Just seconds into the second half, Lilly earned a corner kick with a dynamic dribble down the left flank. Lopez took the corner kick, drilling it into the pack of players inside the penalty box. A Finland defender managed to get her head on the ball, but the clearance was poor and it bounced to Lloyd who was lurking at the top of the penalty box. She struck her first-time shot hard on the ground and into the net from 13 yards out for her third international goal.

The match also marked the return of Shannon Boxx to the U.S. lineup. The defensive midfielder was her usual ball-winning self, playing the entire 90 minutes in her first match back after recovering from the ACL surgery she underwent last summer.

The USA out-shot a Finland team that played a defensive 4-5-1 formation by a 17-3 margin, but while the Fins get credit for playing compact defense, they never really opened up and tried to attack the USA.

The USA’s best chance of the first half came in the 18th minute as forward Natasha Kai broke down the left wing, cut back and sent a cross to the far post. Forward Lindsay Tarpley made a hard run to the service, but couldn’t put her lunging first-time volley on fame from close range.

Finland had its only chance of the game in the 22nd minute when U.S. goalkeeper Briana Scurry inadvertently stepped out of the penalty box while punting the ball and was flagged by the assistant referee. That gave Finland an 18-yard direct free kick from just left of the penalty arc. Anna-Kaisa Rantanen struck her shot very well to the right of the wall, but Scurry scrambled to make a diving save, knocking the ball down and then over the end line away from danger.

Heather O’Reilly, Aly Wagner and Tarpley all had decent cracks at the Finnish net in the first half, but the real fireworks started after the break as the Americans pinned Finland in its own half, firing 12 shots and earning 10 corner kicks.

With the U.S. doing well to get around the Finnish defense on the flanks and balls flying through the penalty area throughout the second half, the Americans surely should have finished a few more chances.

In the 59th minute, Wambach blasted a shot on frame after dribbling into the left side of the area. Finland ‘keeper Minna Meriluoto could only parry it away, and the rebound bounced right to Chalupny, who had a crack of her own from the middle of the penalty box only to see a Finland defender clear the ball away from inside her own six-yard box.

In the 72nd minute, Wambach created another chance, avoiding a defender while dribbling down the end line in the right side of the box, and then tried to find a U.S. player in the seam. Her cross was blocked, but it rolled to Boxx, who cracked her shot. That too was blocked, but the rebound fell to Lilly’s feet. She took her chance quickly from just outside the six-yard line, but blasted the ball just inches wide of the right post.

Finland mustered just one shot in the second half, that a looping volley which flew 20 yards over the goal, as Cat Whitehill marshaled a back line that kept Finland far from the U.S. net for most of the match.

The game also saw an extremely rare occurrence, as Lilly came off the bench for just the 12th time in her 20-year international career that has spanned 321 caps for USA. She earned most of the 10 corner kicks in the second half with her attacks down the left flank.

Five of the six games on the second match day of the 2007 Algarve Cup ended in 1-0 scores.

In the Group A matches, Denmark defeated Norway, 1-0, on a last-minute goal from Ditte Larsen after spending most of the game defending, while France pulled of a shocker against Germany, rebounding from a 4-0 thrashing to Denmark to defeat the reigning European and Women’s World Cup champions by a 1-0 score. It was the second loss in a row for the Germans, who were eliminated from contention for the championship after winning this tournament last year.

Denmark seems all but through to the championship game from Group A as the Danes only need a tie against Germany in its final group match. The Danes could even make the championship with a loss if the goal difference goes their way, a likely prospect as they are at plus-five and have yet to give up a goal in the tournament.

In the Group C matches, Italy defeated Portugal, 1-0, to win the group with one match remaining, while Iceland drew, 1-1, vs. Ireland.

USA: 1-Briana Scurry; 2-Heather Mitts, 4-Cat Whitehill, 8-Tina Ellertson (14-Stephanie Lopez, 46), 3-Christie Rampone (C); 7-Shannon Boxx, 16-Angela Hucles (17-Lori Chalupny, 46), 10-Aly Wagner (11-Carli Lloyd, 46); 9-Heather O'Reilly (20-Abby Wambach, 46), 6-Natasha Kai, 5-Lindsay Tarpley (13-Kristine Lilly, 46).

Subs Not Used: 12-Leslie Osborne, 18-Hope Solo, 19-Marci Jobson, 22-India Trotter.

Head Coach: Greg Ryan.

FIN: 1-Minna Meriluoto; 2-Petra Vaelma, 4-Maija Saari, 5-Tina Salmen (C), 6-Miia Niemi (13-Nina Hyvönen, 88), 11-Susanna Lehtinin; 3-Jessica Julin, 8-Katri Nokso-Koivisto (15-Kati Hakala, 74), 10-Anna-Kaisa Rantanen; 16-Heidi Lindström (14-Sanna Malaska, 58), 18-Annica Sjölund (17-Taru Laihanen, 46).

Subs Not Used: 7-Essi Sainio, 9-Sanna Talonen, 12-Tinja-Riikka Korpela.

Head Coach: Michael Kald.

Referee: Bentla D’Coth (IND)

Asst. Referees: Kyoung Min Kim (KOR), Ja Daw Kaw (MYA)

4th Official: Eun Ah Hong (KOR)