Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce helped the United States win their eighth SheBelieves Cup on Saturday night.
Our no.91 kept a clean sheet as USA beat Colombia 1-0, a result that was enough to crown them champions of the annual round-robin tournament held in the States.
Chelsea’s Alyssa Thompson, whom we could face in next weekend’s Subway Women’s League Cup final, got the only goal of the game in the 82nd minute, with her strike from the edge of Colombia’s 18-yard area crashing in off the crossbar.
Tullis-Joyce was an unused substitute for her nation’s tournament-opening 2-0 victory over Argentina last Sunday but returned to former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes’s XI as the hosts edged past old rivals Canada in midweek.
Our goalkeeper came up against United team-mate Simi Awujo in that one and kept her place for her country’s competition closer against Colombia in New Jersey, the home state of former Reds forward Tobin Heath, who was honoured with a celebration of her retirement before kick-off.
Saturday’s victory sealed Phallon’s first title as a senior international, less than 12 months after she earned her first cap in a friendly meeting with Brazil last April.
The result also ensured a United player would lift the trophy in back-to-back years, after Hinata Miyazawa hoisted the silverware aloft with Japan in 2025.
With two wins from two games – after beating Chinese Taipei 2-0 earlier in the week – Hinata and co have ensured their passage to the quarter-finals, but will play Vietnam first, in their final Group C match on Tuesday morning (09:00 GMT kick-off).
Elsewhere on Saturday, United Academy graduate Mared Griffiths – on loan at Sunderland – scored twice as Wales got their first three points of the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign by beating Montenegro 6-1. Fellow young Red Safia Middleton-Patel made her eighth senior appearance for Wales in goal.
Later in the day, Germany’s 4-0 win in Norway was among the matches with Reds involved, as Lea Schuller helped her country pick up three points against a side featuring two of her club team-mates, Lisa Naalsund and Elisabeth Terland.
February's Player of the Month Jess Park featured for 85 minutes of England's 2-0 victory over Iceland in Nottingham, while Hanna Lundkvist, Fridolina Rolfo and Julia Zigiotti all got minutes in Sweden's goalless draw with Serbia.
There were also outings for Melvine Malard and Dominique Janssen in triumphs for France (4-1 v Poland) and Netherlands (2-1 v Republic of Ireland) respectively, while Awujo played 45 minutes of Canada's eventual penalty-shootout success over Argentina, in the other matchday-three encounter at the SheBelieves Cup.