ALBUFEIRA, Portugal, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Norway secured Group C top after beating China 3-1, while Sweden and Spain failed to continue their winning momentum at the Algarve Cup women's soccer invitational tournament here on Friday.
Norway built a commanding three-goal margin in the first half through China's defensive mistakes. After Chinese goalkeeper Wang Shimeng pressed hard but failed to contact well with skipper Wu Haiyan for making the clearance, Isabell Herlovsen made the most of that to break deadlock for an empty goal in the ninth minute.
Norweigian goalie Ingrid Hjelmseth made her contribution by consecutively denying Huang Yini and Gu Yasha's efforts.
Caroline Graham Hansen's cross inside the box deflected off Wu's header into far corner of the goal in the 30th minute, and it was ruled for an own goal. Emilie Haavi won the ball possession over Chinese defender Wang Linlin before poking home 12 minutes later.
China's offense got better as their head coach Jia Xiuquan made several changes to the line-up. Wang Shanshan wasted a golden chance by slicing wide an empty goal in the 58th minute. Substitute Wang Shuang also saw a turnaround shot from a close range miss the target in the 75th minute.
Wang Shanshan managed to get one back for China. She chested down Gu Yasha's cross and swept home on the stroke of stoppage time.
After harvesting their second consecutive win, also over Denmark in the opener, Norway move up to an unassailable top position, while China and Denmark need to contend for runner-up.
In Group D, defending champions Sweden, who had thrashed Switzerland 4-1, lost to Portugal 2-1. Sweden overcame Julia Zigiotti Olme's red card late in the first half to move ahead thanks to Nathalie Bjorn's 68th-minute goal. However, the hosts just waited three minutes to level by Diana Silva, and Claudia Neto sealed their win three minutes into stoppage time.
Portugal and Sweden are level on three points, ahead of Switzerland at the bottom.
Spain also stopped marching on in a 3-0 loss to Poland in Group B. Paulina Dudek, Patrycja Balcerzak and Weronika Zawistowska scored for Poland.
Poland and Spain have registered three points, while the Netherlands, who shared last year's title with Sweden as the final had to be called off due to bad weather, sit bottom with no gain.
Fifth-ranked Canada edged Scotland 1-0 through Christine Sinclair's late penalty, and sit atop Group A with four points.
The 2019 Algarve Cup features 12 teams slotted in four groups. The two best group winners will contend for the title, while the other two group winners participate in the third-place playoff. The remaining teams will appear in respective classification matches according to their group positions and results.
