The United States advanced to the quarterfinals at the women's under-20 World Cup on Monday despite losing 3-0 to defending champion Germany in Group D.
After taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Lena Lotzen in the first half, Germany made it 2-0 in the 54th minute when Lotzen scored again, pouncing on a rebound off a shot by Silvana Chojnowski. Melanie Leupolz scored from close range two minutes later to make it 3-0.
''We just made a couple of mistakes and they punished us for that and that's what good teams do,'' U.S. coach Steve Swanson said. ''One of our goals was to advance, we've done that, and we're focused on the next game.''
China beat Ghana 1-0 in Group D's other game.
China and the U.S. both finished the group stage with four points, but the Americans advanced because of better goal differential. Zhao Xindi scored in the 35th minute for China.
The U.S. will face North Korea in the quarterfinals on Friday. North Korea beat Canada 2-1 to finish first in Group C with nine points. Norway also advanced out of Group C with a 4-1 win over Argentina and will face Germany in the quarterfinals.
Japan plays South Korea and Mexico faces Nigeria in the other quarterfinal matchups.
