U.S. Stays Perfect in Cup

Cindy Parlow scored the opening goal, Tiffeny Milbrett hit the eventual game-winner and Mia Hamm tallied twice as the U.S. women’s national soccer team defeated Germany, 4-1, in the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup tournament in Chicago.

In the second game of a doubleheader played in the rain in front of 10,235 at Soldier Field, China shut out Japan, 3-0, on two goals by Bai Lilli and one by Bai Jie, Hamm’s Washington Freedom teammate in the Women’s United Soccer Assn.

U.S. Coach April Heinrichs selected her most experienced lineup to face European champion Germany, and the American starting 11 included 10 members of the team that won the Women’s World Cup in 1999. The lone exception was former Notre Dame goalkeeper Lakeysia Beene.

Parlow put the U.S. ahead in the 19th minute. Germany, which had beaten Japan, 1-0, on Friday and whose lineup included numerous players from its under-21 and under-18 national teams, tied it on a breakaway goal by Martina Muller four minutes later.

Milbrett scored her 86th international goal in the 51st minute. Hamm then put the game away, scoring twice within a two-minute span in the 72nd and 73rd minutes. They were her 128th and 129th international goals, extending her world record.

The victory kept the U.S. unbeaten and untied with a 21-0 record in the eight-year history of U.S. Women’s Cup.