CARLI’S SIX IN A ROW OVERPOWERS CHILE USA sail through to last 16

CARLI LLOYD became the first player to score in six consecutive Women’s World Cup games as USA cruised to another easy victory over Chile in Paris. The 36-year-old forward scored a brace for her side, but missed a late penalty to deny her the fairytale hat-trick. USA picked up where they left off against Thailand — who they thrashed 13-0 on Tuesday, receiving some negative press in the process for what many considered over-zealous celebrations. But yesterday, as Lloyd opened the scoring after just 11 minutes, she bounded over to her bench without hesitation to revel in her history-making goal. A well-timed header from Julie Ertz doubled their advantage and Lloyd went on to make it three before the break. Chile will feel hard done by in conceding the second, as replays showed the ball had gone out for a goal kick in the previous play but officials chose to award the corner, which led to the goal. The South Americans did have the ball in the net when the score was 1-0 but it was ruled out for a clear offside against Carla Guerrero. The Americans continued to probe the danger area, and without the stunning saves of Christiane Endler to deny Christen Press twice in the second half, the scenes of Tuesday night may have been repeated. And it was Endler who came under fire once again in the 81st minute as VAR controversially awarded USA a penalty for a challenge on the edge of the area. But this time Lloyd’s aim failed her, dragging the ball wide. The victory sees the rightly-tagged favourites saunter through to the last 16, while Chile must rely on other results and a convincing win over Thailand to qualify. Sweden also made light work of their Asian counterparts in yesterday’s earlier Group F fixture, overpowering Thailand 5-1 in Nice to secure their place in the knockout stages.