Chengdu, China (My Sportsbook) - Abby Wambach scored two goals as the United States posted an impressive 2-0 win over Sweden on Friday in the World Cup.

Wambach converted a penalty kick in the first half and added her third goal of the tournament - and the 80th of her career - in the second half.

The Americans moved atop Group B and are in great position to qualify for the quarterfinals. The United States ends group play Tuesday against Nigeria.

"You can't feel any better than after a win, getting three points. This game meant a lot to us," U.S. defender Christie Rampone said. "This could have been an elimination game so we had to leave it all out there."

Sweden, the 2003 World Cup runners-up, are in danger of failing to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.

The United States (1-0-1) is tied with North Korea, which beat Nigeria 2-0 on Friday, atop the group with four points. Sweden (0-1-1) is tied with Nigeria with one point after two matches.

Sweden ends group play on Tuesday against North Korea, which tied the United States, 2-2, in the first round of the group stage.

The United States had a bit of a hangover from the disappointing tie with North Korea, but after a sluggish start, gained control of the match against Sweden.

Sweden took control early, earning two corner kicks less than a minute into the match. Neither play resulted in a solid scoring chance, but the Swedes continued to pressure offensively to win two more corners in the following two minutes.

The United States weathered the early barrage, and goalie Hope Solo handled the early pressure well, showing she had overcome a mistake from her World Cup debut when she let a goal slip through her hands against North Korea.

The United States had its first chance in the eighth minute when midfielder Carli Lloyd ran onto a ball deep into the box but just missed getting her foot on it as she ran into Sweden goalie Hedvig Lindahl.

Outside of that near-miss for the United States, Sweden controlled the game and looked like a much better side for the first 20 minutes. Rarely did the Swedes not hold the ball in the offensive end.

"We knew they were going to come at us. We talked about it. They were going to knock balls in behind us and chase us and they did that," U.S. coach Greg Ryan said. "Hope did a great job and all the players battling until we could catch a rhythm, bring the ball down to our feet and start to play and then we turned the tide of the game at that point."

After the poor start, the United States started to gain some momentum with Cat Whitehill and Kristine Lilly each testing Lindahl just minutes apart. Lori Chalupny added another solid scoring chance with a long shot on goal.

The only threat Sweden mounted in the final 25 minutes of the opening half was a long blast from star striker Victoria Svensson in the 29th minute that went just over the crossbar.

The United States wasn't fazed, though, and quickly regained control. In the 34th minute the Americans were rewarded for their pressure when a ball played into the box from midfield was misplayed by Lindahl and bounced over her head.

Chalupny ran onto the ball, but before she could slot the ball into the open net, was taken down by Sweden's Stina Segerstrom, which resulted in a yellow card and a penalty kick for the United States.

Wambach took the penalty kick and got Lindahl diving toward the right post as she easily shot the ball inside the left post.

The United States brought on defensive midfielder Shannon Boxx to start the second half, but it didn't sit on the one-goal lead and continued to pressure offensively.

Lilly had one of the best scoring chances early in the second half off a cross from Wambach, but she was unable to finish from just six yards out.

Sweden had one of its few scoring chances minutes later when Segerstrom jumped over the United States' Cat Whitehill to head the ball on goal from just a few yards out, but Solo made a quick reaction to grab the ball at the left post.

In the 58th minute, the United States took most of the suspense out of a game featuring two teams ranked in the top three in the world.

Lilly set up the second goal with a pass from the left sideline to the top of the box to Wambach. Wambach chested the ball down at the top of the box, set herself and let the ball take a little bounce before she hammered it into the upper left corner of the net.

"It's one of those goals as a forward that you say, 'Yeah, I meant to do that, to put it exactly where it went,' but you know, in this situation, I just hit it as hard as I could and it went in," Wambach said.

Facing a 2-0 deficit, Sweden finally started to show some life for the first time since its fast start. Although the Swedes got more offensive, they were unable to create any real good scoring chances through the 75th minute.

Lilly had another chance to get her first goal of this World Cup in the 75th when she got a little touch on the ball just in front of Lindahl, but wasn't able to poke it past the goalie.

Solo made her lone mistake in the 77th minute when she came out to play a ball in the box but couldn't get to it in time. Sweden got a piece of the ball in the right side of the box but sent it wide of the right post.

Minutes later, Solo looked crisp when she punched out a cross from Svensson that was just in front of the crossbar.

Sweden's other star striker, Hanna Ljungberg barely missed converting a cross from Svensson a few minutes later. Ljungberg and Svensson - who have scored a combined 130 goals in their careers - each had chances in the closing minutes but couldn't convert.

Solo finished with two saves to post her first shutout in a World Cup game - the Americans' 14th in the tournament all time.