Loss to U.S. pits Swedes against Canada

The defending champion United States clinched the top spot in Group F at the Women’s World Cup with a 2-0 win over Sweden on Thursday in Le Havre, France.

Lindsey Horan scored in the third minute and Jonna Andersson’s own goal in the 50th made it 2-0.

Alyssa Naeher made two saves for the U.S., which swept its three group stage matches by a combined 18-0 score.

The Americans will next face Spain in Reims, France, on Monday in a round-of-16 knockout match. Sweden also plays Monday versus Canada in Paris.

Horan gave the U.S. a dream start against Sweden with her second goal of the tournament and the fastest score in the 2019 World Cup.

In Montpellier, Ajara Nchout scored a goal five minutes into stoppage time to send Cameroon into the round of 16 with a thrilling 2-1 victory over New Zealand in the finale of Group E play.

With the final whistle about to sound, Nchout took a pass off the head of teammate Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene and worked her way up the left side. She faked a shot to lose defender Ria Percival and then fired an uncontested blast from inside the penalty area and past goalkeeper Erin Nayler.

With the victory, Cameroon finished 1-2-0 (three points) in group play, while New Zealand wound up 0-3-0. Cameroon finished third in the group, but will advance to the knockout stage based on goal differential.

In Rennes, needing to win by at least three goals to advance to the knockout rounds, Chile came up agonizingly short in its Group F finale, blanking Nigeria 2-0.

In the 86th minute, Francisca Lara hit the crossbar with a penalty kick that would have given Chile the necessary three-goal lead. Instead, Nigeria grabbed the final berth in the round of 16 and a matchup with Germany on Saturday in Grenoble.