Carli Lloyd scored twice, Christen Press added a goal and the United States held off Sweden 3-2 on Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio, giving Vlatko Andonovski a victory in his first match as head coach.
The U.S. is 19-1-3 in 2019 and has a 22-match unbeaten streak. Andonovski on Oct. 28 became the ninth U.S. coach after the retirement of Jill Ellis, whose 106 victories made her the winningest coach in U.S. women’s soccer history and the first international coach to win two Women’s World Cup titles.
A native of Macedonia, Andonovski played in Europe before an indoor soccer career in the United States. He coached in the National Women’s Soccer League for the past seven seasons, with FC Kansas City and Reign FC of Washington state.
The U.S. played without some of its most high-profile players, including Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan.
Next up for the United States is Costa Rica on Nov. 10 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.