U.S. leads Colombia, 1-0, at halftime in the Women’s World Cup

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A 13th-minute goal by midfielder Heather O’Reilly on Saturday gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead at halftime in its Women’s World Cup soccer match against Colombia in Sinsheim, Germany.

Victory would send the U.S. through to the quarterfinals of the 16-nation tournament.

The American team might have led by a greater margin after the first 45 minutes but for the solid goalkeeping of Colombia’s Sandra Sepulveda, who did well to handle shots from Abby Wambach, Amy Rodriguez and Lauren Cheney as the U.S. carried the attack to the South Americans.

Earlier in the day, Sweden, playing in the same Group C, made sure of its place in the quarterfinals by defeating North Korea, 1-0, in front of an Augsburg, Germany, crowd of 23,768.

The game’s only goal was scored in the 64th minute by midfielder Lisa Dahlkvist, after Linda Forsberg had sent a cross in from the left and Therese Sjoran had teed the ball up for Dahlkvist to fire it into the net from close range.

The victory enabled Sweden to join Germany, France and Japan in the final eight, with the remaining four places yet to be decided. At halftime in Sinsheim, the U.S. appeared set to be one of the four.

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