South Korea denied the USA a win in the final game of their Women’s World Cup Victory Tour, which was also head coach Jill Ellis’s final match in charge.
Although the US had beaten the Koreans 2-0 just three days before, a crowd of 33,027 at Soldier Field saw Chelsea’s Ji So-Yun score from outside the box before Carli Lloyd headed the equaliser from a Megan Rapinoe corner kick.
Julie Ertz, substitutes Jessica McDonald and Mallory Pugh were all denied by the woodwork and even after Korea’s Son Hwa-Yeon was sent off in the 84th minute for a second bookable offense, the departing coach’s special occasion could not be crowned with a winning goal.
Lloyd did find the net deep into added time only for her effort to be ruled out for offside, as Ellis’s best ever spell of 17 straight wins was brought to an untimely end.
Ellis ended her record tenure of 132 games with figures of 106 victories, 19 draws and seven defeats, remarkably winning all but one (0-0 v Sweden in 2015) of 24 World Cup qualifiers and finals tournament matches.
