Hamm strike denies Danes

By Peter Bruun

United States 1-1 Denmark
Denmark's preparations for next summer's UEFA European Women's Championship almost got off to a sensational start as they came within 20 seconds of defeating the Olympic champions at Giants Stadium in New York.

Elegant opener
Denmark striker Merete Pedersen, whose club side Torres Terra Sarda were eliminated from the UEFA Women's Cup at the quarter-final stage by Arsenal LFC on Sunday, opened the scoring after eight minutes, elegantly lifting the ball over American goalkeeper Briana Scurry after outfoxing Brandi Chastain.

Going close
The strike sparked an hour of Danish dominance in which the Scandinavians underlined their billing as perhaps the world's finest team at present. Lene Jensen and Cathrine Paaske Sørensen both went close in front of 18,885 fans before half-time and Anne Dot Eggers had an effort cleared off the line in the second half.

Hamm strike
The US dictated proceedings for the final half-hour, although they only threatened from set-pieces. That was until 40 seconds of the one minute of added time had ticked by and Mia Hamm capitalised an a rare error in the Denmark back line to score her 158th international goal on her 273rd appearance for her country.

Coach proud
The leveller extended the US's unbeaten run to 20 games, a statistic which will again come under threat when the two sides meet again on Saturday in Philadelphia. Denmark coach Poul Højmose said of the performance: "I'm very proud. It's not often that I've seen a team create that many scoring opportunities against the Americans." Captain Katrine Pedersen added: "Although we're annoyed with their equaliser I think we can be happy with our efforts."