[ALGARVE CUP] The USA won the Algarve Cup for the fifth time in the last six years when it beat Denmark, 2-1, in Wednesday's final played in Vila Real de San Antonio.

Abby Wambach scored the winning goal four minutes into the second half to break a 1-1 tie.

Natasha Kai scored on a header off Carli Lloyd's cross in the first half to the Americans the lead, but Denmark equalized on Cathrine Sorensen's volley.

After taking the lead on Wambach's goal set up by Kai, the Americans shut down Denmark to clinch its seventh straight win under new coach Pia Sundhage and win its second tournament of the year.

The title was the sixth overall for the USA at the Algarve Cup, It also won in 2000, '03, '04, '05 and '07.

Next up for the USA is next month's Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so the Algarve Cup was an important test.

"It's so important for us to play games," said Sundhage. "We played different players. We stayed with the 4-4-2 formation, but still played different ways both defending and attacking, giving a lot of players many minutes, which was very important for us and I am very happy with the performance."

USA-Denmark Summary:
March 12 in Vila Real de San Antonio
USA 2 Denmark 1. Goals: Kai 14, Wambach 49; Sorensen 30.
USA -- Solo, Cox (Buehler, 72), Markgraf, Rampone, Chalupny, Osborne, Lloyd (Hucles, 34), Tarpley (Woznuk, 77), O'Reilly (Heath, 46), Kai (Rodriguez, 81), Wambach (Cheney, 87).
Denmark -- Johansen, Olsen (Bjerg, 75), Pederson, Orntoft, B.Hansen (L.Hansen, 75), Knudsen, Sorensen, Sand (Hovesen, 75), Rasmussen (Nielsen, 89), Pape (Madsen, 54), Pedersen.
Referee: Tanja Schett (Austria).
Att.: 1,000.

Placement Matches:
March 12
Championship: USA 2, Denmark 1
Third-Place: Norway 2, Germany 0
Fifth-Place: Sweden 3, Italy 0
Seventh-Place: Iceland 3, Finland 0
Ninth-Place: Portugal 1, China 1 (China wins 5-4 in PKs)
11th-Place: Poland 2, Ireland 2 (Poland wins 6-5 in PKs)

Champions:
1994 1. Norway 2. USA 3. Sweden 4. Denmark
1995 1. Sweden 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. USA
1996 1. Norway 2. Sweden 3. China 4. Denmark
1997 1. Norway 2. China 3. Sweden 4. Denmark
1998 1. Norway 2. Denmark 3. USA 4. Sweden
1999 1. China 2. USA 3. Norway 4. Denmark
2000 1. USA 2. Norway 3. China 4. Sweden
2001 1. Sweden 2. Denmark 3. China 4. Canada
2002 1. China 2. Norway 3. Sweden 4. Germany
2003 1. USA 2. China 3. Norway 4. France
2004 1. USA 2. Norway 3. France 4. Italy
2005 1. USA 2. Germany 3. France 4. Sweden
2006 1. Germany 2. USA 3. Sweden 4. France
2007 1. USA 2. Denmark 3. Sweden 4. France
2007 1. USA 2. Denmark 3. Norway 4. Germany