Canada's Rhian Wilkinson (left) in Cyprus Women's Cup action against Ireland on March 12, 2014, in Nicosia, Cyprus. (Photo courtesy of the Canadian Soccer Association)
NICOSIA, Cyprus – Canada scored twice in the second half, rallying to defeat Ireland 2-1 in the match for fifth place at the 2014 Cyprus Women’s Cup on Wednesday at the GSP Stadium.
Sophie Schmidt’s dramatic 90th goal minute lifted the CONCACAF power to its third win in four tournament outings.
Ruesha Littlejohn gave the Irish a 13th minute lead, allowing them to defend with numbers for large portions of time afterwards.
The Canadians’ persistence on offense, though, paid off with a 56th minute equalizer. From the left, second-half substitute Robyn Gayle swung a pass into the box behind the defense for the sprinting Matheson, who slotted home from eight-yards out.
With time winding down, Matheson made a run into the box on the right, turned the corner and cut the ball back towards the penalty spot. After a scramble in front of the goal, Schmidt netted with her left-foot from just inside the six-yard box.
at Parchal, Portugal
Korea DPR 0, United States 3
The United States women took seventh place at the 2014 Algarve Cup, defeating Korea DPR 3-0 on Wednesday at the Stadium Bela Vista.
Abby Wambach scored the first two goals and Heather O'Reilly added a late insurance tally to give their team its first win in four games at the tournament.
The match was also O'Reilly's 200th international appearance as she became the ninth female player in U.S. history to reach that mark.
After some quick ball movement, the Americans went ahead in 1-0 in the 11th minute. For the final pass, Ali Krieger crossed from the right sideline towards far post, where Wambach finished with a powerful header.
In the 58th minute, Carli Lloyd dribbled into the left side of the box and completed a short pass back through a defender's legs to Wambach. The Western New York Flash forward, with her back to the goal, brilliantly rolled the ball with the sole of her left foot into the net to make it 2-0.
With two minutes left in normal time, the U.S. closed its goal account. The influential Lloyd sent a hard cross from the right side of the penalty area for the unmarked O'Reilly to net from close range.
