U.S. under-21 women

American streak of seven straight Nordic titles ends with German 2-0 victory.

Striker Lena Gosling (15) wins header, helping Germany to a 2-0 victory over the United States and the Nordic Cup championship. -- German Football Federation web site photo --

STAVANGER, Norway (Saturday, July 22, 2006) - Striker Lydia Neumann scored midway through the first half, while defender Simone Laudeher netted an unassisted tally late, powering Germany to a 2-0 victory over the United States in the 16th Annual Nordic Cup final, snapping the Americans streak of seven straight titles before 300 at Viking Stadium tonight.

"Overall, on the day, (Germany) deserved to win," said U.S. coach Jillian Ellis, who had coached U.S. teams to a pair of titles in this elite tournament for under-21 women. "We had good possession and pressured them a lot in the second half, but we couldn't finish. We were pushing for a tying goal and it was unlucky to give up that last one."

Both of Germany' goals came off American miscues. In the 32nd minute, U.S. defender Rachel Buehler slipped while trying to clear a ball from her six-yard box and Neumann was there to take advantage and finish for a 1-0 lead.

In the 86th minute, American defender Lauren Wilmoth's poor clearance was intercepted by Laudeher who converted to make it 2-0.

Both Buehler and Wilmoth, the youngest player on the U.S. team at 18, otherwise had excelled for the U.S. throughout this event.

Germany was "a good, very strong, physical steam and kept possession very well," Ellis said. "The best thing for our team was watching the maturing of these players as these games have been great for their development. A lot of these players haven't seen this caliber of teams. We're disappointed for sure because we battled so hard against Norway to get that result, so to get here and not have it go our way is disappointing, but I am very proud of their effort."

U.S. forward Danesha Adams, who led the team in scoring with five goals here, was carted off the field at the end of the match after taking a hard knock.

Germany won its second Nordic Cup crown with the U.S. capturing the other eight in the last 10 years. In the only meetings between the nations in the final, the Americans prevailed 1-0 in 2000 and 3-1 in 2002.

In other placement matches today, Norway beat England 3-2 to take third place, Sweden defeated Iceland 1-0 for fifth place and Finland bested Denmark 1-0 in the seventh-place match.

Seventh place
Finland 1, Denmark 0

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