U.S. women’s soccer team falls to Sweden, 2-1, in World Cup warm-up

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Preparations for the World Cup did not start off so well for the U.S. women’s soccer team, which lost to Sweden, 2-1, in Friday’s opening game of the Four Nations Tournament in Chongqing, China.

Carli Lloyd of the U.S. started the scoring in the 11th minute with a goal off a corner kick, but Sweden came back with goals from Stina Segerstrom in the 16th minute and Kosovare Asllani in the 60th.

It was the first time the U.S. lost a game in which it had led since a 3-2 loss to Norway on March 5, 2002.

‘Very, very disappointed,’ American midfielder Shannon Boxx said. ‘We don’t have the excuse of a long season. We had good rest, and coming back into our first tournament, we need to step it up. I think everyone knows what we need to do. It’s mainly coming together as a team and the attitude that we present every game needs to be better.”

The U.S., which plays Canada on Sunday and China on Tuesday, opens the World Cup in Germany against North Korea on June 28. The team then plays Colombia on July 2, followed by a rematch with Sweden on July 6 to close out the opening round.

-- Chuck Schilken