LE HAVRE, France -- The U.S. made sure to remind its tournament competitors that the most difficult path is the one that runs through the world's top-ranked team and defending World Cup champions. But in doing so, the U.S. will have a more difficult path moving forward.

With a 2-0 win against Sweden on Thursday -- the team that eliminated the U.S. from the 2016 Olympics -- the U.S. wrapped up Group F with three wins in three games. For the first time ever, the U.S. completed the group phase without conceding a goal. (Germany also accomplished that feat this year.)

Sweden made numerous changes to its lineup heading into this game, although without removing mosimportant pieces. The U.S. went back to its primary lineup. But if the teams approached the game with different motivations, the Americans certainly came away with theirs fulfilled after Lindsey Horan put them ahead in the third minute and Tobin Heath forced an own goal with a close-range shot early in the second half.

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The prize for such success, of course, is a possible quarterfinal meeting in Paris against host and pre-tournament co-favorite France. The French also won all three games in group play. But before worrying about one of the toughest tickets in the history of the sport, the U.S. first returns to Reims, where it opened the tournament, for a knockout game against Spain (Monday, noon ET).

Those two teams played for the first time ever this past January, in Spain, with the U.S. bouncing back from an earlier loss in France to record a 1-0 win. Here are a few more takeaways:

The Alex Morgan mystery

For all the positives Thursday night and the ribbon it put on group stage success for the U.S., there was also a problematic loose end in the health of forward Alex Morgan, who suffered a hard foul late in the first half and was slow to get to her feet. She appeared uncomfortable trying to walk off the knock. Morgan was replaced at the start of the second half by Carli Lloyd.

Morgan walked through the mixed zone after the game without an obvious limp but declined to speak to the media, which left coach Jill Ellis to address the status of a player who has been in some of her best form over the past two years but has also battled injuries.

"Alex took a knock in the first half," Ellis said. "And I just think it was more of, 'Let's be smart about this' in terms of what we did."

As was the case four years ago, the Morgan watch now becomes part of the World Cup story.

U.S. knockout punch is fearsome

There is no stretch of minutes during a game in which it is easy to play the United States, but the opening 15 minutes must be particularly daunting for opponents. At its best, and certainly in each of its three games in group play, the U.S. starts games with roughly the same intensity as water out of a fire hose. That remained the case Thursday despite a much higher caliber of foe.

From a set play off the opening kickoff that nearly sprang a look at goal to barely letting Sweden connect multiple passes or break out of its own half, the U.S. swarmed and made the opening quarter of an hour largely one-way traffic. Horan's goal was the immediate reward.

"Just trying to be relentless come the first 15 minutes," Abby Dahlkemper said. "I think that's really important, to kind of put teams on their backside and be like, 'Wow, this team is really flying.' I think everyone is as fit as they've been in four years, and I think everyone is kind of hitting their stride at the right time."

Sweden doesn't make U.S. pay for missing Julie Ertz

Julie Ertz didn't start for the U.S. She was held out for what a team spokesperson described as precautionary reasons related to a hip contusion. The team didn't say when Ertz sustained the injury or whether she would have been available for the previous game against Chile, when Ellis didn't start her or most of the first-choice players. Ertz had participated without apparent difficulty in the limited portion of training open to media in recent days, including Wednesday.

In contrast to Morgan, Ertz did stop with the media after and made it clear she thinks she'll be ready for the game against Spain.

Her return creates an interesting decision for Ellis, who hasn't had to choose between her four primary midfielders yet. Sweden couldn't sustain enough possession or enough of an attack, even in transition, to make the U.S. feel Ertz's absence as a one-woman defensive clean-up crew. Instead, Horan played the position with an attacking mindset and was free to orchestrate the offense and send pinpoint passes all over the field. If Ertz returns against Spain and Horan moves higher in the midfield, it leaves a choice between Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle -- both of whom have looked entirely comfortable in their first World Cups.

The back line debuts

After two games in which the back line spent as much time in the opponent's half of the field as defending their own goal and goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher had little to do. That changed a little Thursday as Sweden showed some offensive prowess. While the attacks rarely amounted to much more than half chances, the U.S. was stretched at times defensively. Naeher did her part on the handful of shots and crosses that strayed into her real estate, but not all of her work is that easy to see as she settles into her first World Cup as a starter.

"She's really commanding us defensively," Mewis said. "I thought she did a great job of finding me from goal kicks or from when she had the ball at her feet and I was able to flick a lot of those on. Just her distribution has been great. She's a big transition piece for us. I just hear her commanding everyone on set pieces. I think she's had a great presence."

Inefficiency creeps into U.S. attack

Other than Horan's goal, the U.S. had two more shots on goal in the first half -- the same number as Sweden. The number that tells the difference, though, is that the U.S. put eight shots off target, while Sweden had only one. The story stayed much the same in the second half. The U.S. dominated possession and opportunities, but it didn't do much to test Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

Plenty of Americans can score from outside the box, and one of the shots on target came on a well-struck low drive from Mewis, but there was a distinct sense of settling for some shots from long range against a more potent defense than Thailand or Chile.

Manchester United's 2018-19 campaign was one of their worst seasons in recent memory: They sacked a manager, failed to challenge for a single major honour and finished sixth, five points adrift of the top four and Champions League qualification.

Ending the season 32 points behind champions Manchester City and 32 points ahead of relegated Cardiff City in 18th place, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players quite literally found themselves drifting along in No Man's Land, having posted the club's worst-ever defensive record in a Premier League season by conceding 54 goals in 38 games. To put the seal on a dismal campaign for a club with more domestic titles than any other English team, neighbours City achieved an unprecedented domestic Treble, while traditional rivals Liverpool won the Champions League to claim their sixth European Cup -- twice as many as United's all-time haul of three.

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Against that backdrop, it was clear that United faced a crucial period of rebuilding at the end of the season, especially after 2018's summer transfer dealings under Jose Mourinho saw them spend just £75m on the unimpressive Fred, Diogo Dalot and third-choice goalkeeper Lee Grant combined.

Players need to be sold or released and top-quality reinforcements added quickly to put United back on the road to success. But sources have told ESPN that Solskjaer has been given just £100m to spend on new arrivals. If the Norwegian wants more money, he has to raise it by selling players who either have no future at Old Trafford or want to move on.

Just 10 days ahead of United's planned return to preseason training on July 1, Solskjaer has added just one player, spending £15m on 21-year-old Swansea winger Daniel James, to a squad that has lost senior figures Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia since the start of 2019.

United have handed out some new contracts, with 31-year-old attacking midfielder Juan Mata the latest to get one after Ashley Young, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. But while key stars like Marcus Rashford and David De Gea continue to keep the club waiting on their contract negotiations and the widely reported plans to appoint a technical director to help improve player recruitment have yet to bear fruit, United once again find themselves in a state of flux during the hugely important summer transfer window.

Real Madrid, who rival United's claims to be the biggest club in the world, have already responded to last season's disappointing campaign in Spain by signing five new players, including Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic, for initial fees exceeding €300m.

Meanwhile at Old Trafford, 21-year-old James is the only new face, with efforts to sign Newcastle youngster Sean Longstaff, Leicester's Harry Maguire and Crystal Palace defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka all making little progress due to United's attempts to negotiate deals with a low basic offer and incentivised bonuses to potentially take the fees higher.

Having earned a reputation as a club that would spend over the odds to sign players following Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013, United are now perceived to have gone too far the other way, with selling clubs bemused by their attempts to buy players for knockdown prices. United's £40m valuation of England centre-back Maguire was dismissed out of hand by Leicester, who will not even contemplate selling the 26-year-old for anything less than £80m.

United's executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, is determined to oversee a more strategic, value-driven approach to the transfer market, modelled on the so-called "transfer committee" at Liverpool that has transformed their squad with such success in recent years. United's own "transfer committee" comprises of chief scout Jim Lawlor, global scout Marcel Bout, analyst Mick Court, chief negotiator Matt Judge as well as Solskjaer and his coaches, with Woodward also involved in discussions. But last season's transfer dealings proved so unsatisfactory to Mourinho, who was not given the centre-back he demanded, that an acrimonious air pervaded Old Trafford and ultimately resulted in the Portuguese's sacking in mid-December.

With Solskjaer being handed such a limited transfer budget, the warning signs are already appearing ahead of the 2019-20 season.

The United manager wants a centre-back and right-back -- Maguire and Wan-Bissaka are the top targets, but their combined asking prices amount to £135m -- and he is also keen to bolster a midfield that has been weakened by the January sale of Fellaini and Herrera's exit as a free agent. Newcastle midfielder Longstaff, 21, is regarded as a player with the potential to develop into an established performer, but one who is not yet ready to make a sustained difference in the Premier League, and United are reluctant to meet Newcastle's £25m valuation.

Further forward, Solskjaer and assistant manager Mike Phelan were keen to sign Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho but the German club's £80m-plus price tag has made that move a non-starter. Similarly, United are now no longer in the running to sign Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt due to the emergence of Paris Saint-Germain as a suitor for the 19-year-old.

If United choose to sell Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku or De Gea, the proceeds could enable Solskjaer to target more expensive and experienced recruits, but on that basis he would only be replacing manpower rather than adding to it.

Having wanted to hit the ground running with key targets signed up in time for preseason training on July 1, Solskjaer is struggling to make headway with the funds at his disposal. United had hoped to avoid what has become an annual summer saga in the transfer market this time around but, once again, the storm clouds are beginning to hover over Old Trafford.

Leicestershire 487 (Dexter 180, Azad 137, Ackermann 56*) and 211 for 0 dec (Azad 100*, Horton 100*) drew with Gloucestershire 571 (Higgins 199, Dent 176, Howell 52)

Openers Hassan Azad and Paul Horton both scored unbeaten centuries as Leicestershire ensured their Specsavers County Championship match against Gloucestershire would end in a draw.

It was the second century of the match for Azad, who became the first Leicestershire player to achieve the feat since Ned Eckersley against Derbyshire in 2013.

The home side had conceded a first innings deficit of 84 after Gloucestershire had compiled a mammoth 571 in their first innings, but Horton and Azad went through the afternoon and evening sessions without being parted before the players shook hands at 4.50pm.

The start of the day had seen Ryan Higgins, having resumed on a first-class career best 196, bowled by Chris Wright for 199, the ball moving back in to beat the right-hander's forward defensive to hit off stump.

Graeme Van Buuren also went bowled by an inswinger, in his case delivered by Dieter Klein, and the South African left-arm seamer also picked up the last two wickets of the Gloucestershire first innings, trapping Josh Shaw in front before bowling Chad Sayers.

The visitors needed early wickets to put their opponents under pressure in their second innings, but the writing was on the wall when they were unable to part Azad and Horton in the nine overs available to them before lunch.

Kent 309 (Crawley 111, Stewart 59, Pattinson 6-73) and 363 for 5 dec (Denly 167*, Bell-Drummond 79) beat Nottinghamshire 267 (Nash 67, Patel 52, Milnes 5-68) and 120 (Podmore 5-41) by 285 runs

Kent skittled Nottinghamshire inside two sessions to land an impressive 285-run win on the final day of their Specsavers County Championship match in Tunbridge Wells.

Having set the East Midlands' county an improbable victory target of 406, Kent set about rolling over the first division's basement side inside 60 overs to land their second win of the summer. The hosts banked 22 points, while Nottinghamshire travelled north with only five.

Kent had Harry Podmore, the former Middlesex seamer, to thank for the win after his 5 for 41 return, but Ollie Rayner, the offspinner making his Kent debut after agreeing a three-month loan, also played a key role with a mid-afternoon stint of 16-12-13-2.

In praise of Podmore, Matt Walker, the Kent coach, said: "When Harry joined us from Middlesex last year he wanted a new home, he wanted to be loved if you like, and we gave him the responsibility to lead our attack. He lived up to that challenge today.

"He's thrived on the challenge. In many way's Harry's a bit old school, in that he doesn't move like an athlete and he gets frustrated when he doesn't take wickets, but he grew up very quickly last summer playing a support role to Matt Henry. He now sticks to his guns, bowls top of off all day long, challenging people's defences with good skills. He's become our glue bowler."

At the day's start, Kent batted on for nine overs to add a further 86 to their overnight total of 277 for 3. Joe Denly pressed the run-rate accelerator from the off, clattering another 56 off only 30 balls with five sixes and three fours to finish unbeaten on 167 from his 273 minutes at the crease overall.

He lost Heino Kuhn for 42, bowled by offspinner Matt Carter, and Ollie Robinson, well caught at backward point for just a single as Kent's dash for runs stumbled, albeit briefly.

Kent's declaration left them 90 minutes and two full sessions to dismiss the visitors, but they duly wrapped up the win by tea with Podmore to the fore.

Ben Duckett, the former England left-hander, lauded for his aggressive batting, received a life with his score on 15 when Zak Crawley spilled a low chance at third slip off Podmore. Yet, the opportunity cost only 10 runs as Duckett chased another full one outside off stump to be caught behind.

Four overs later, Podmore removed the experienced Chris Nash to a fine low catch by keeper Robinson, diving to his right then.Podmore then snared Joe Clarke leg before for a duck after a late and ill-judged decision to shoulder arms.

Grant Stewart took over at the Railway End and struck with his 14th delivery by having Samit Patel caught at square cover off a leaden-footed and imprudent back-foot force that left Nottinghamshire in trouble on 56 for 4 at lunch.

Kent's dominance continued in the mid-session as Rayner, the Middlesex loanee, held court from the Railway End with a tenacious spell, the last five overs of which were maidens. Rayner took his maiden wicket for Kent by turning one away from Ben Slater and feathering the edge for a catch behind. The offspinner also had James Pattinson caught in the gully from an over-ambitious drive.

Wiaan Mulder chipped in with the wicket of visiting skipper Steven Mullaney, leg before to a yorker, then Podmore and Stewart, with 2 for 13, returned to polish the job off.

With his side adrift at the bottom of the table and already facing the threat of relegation, Notts captain Mullaney pulled no punches. "There's no arguing with that result and it feels like an interview on repeat, but once again we've not been good enough with the bat and were hit and miss with the ball," he said.

"We hade them 120 for six in their first innings and let them score 300, we fought well on day two through Samit and 'Nashy', but today was just embarrassing. We've got to the point now where we have to looks at ourselves. On paper, we have a good team, but we're not preforming. The odds are against us but we're going to have to win a few of our last seven games to give ourselves a chance.

"It's not quite a car crash yet, but our decision making has been poor. We've been the worst team in this division by a long stretch in the opening seven games. At the end of the day you get what you deserve in this game, and we deserve to be bottom."

Australia A 265 for 4 (Wade 117, Handscomb 64) beat Northamptonshire 262 for 9 (Newton 53, Wakely 53, Agar 3-55) by six wickets

While one Australian left hander was filling his boots in Nottingham, another was doing similar in Northampton as Matthew Wade hammered 117 off 67 balls to guide Australia A to a convincing victory at the start of their tour.

His innings was the standout feature of a very efficient performance from a side that contains plenty of international experience. Wade, who was playing as a specialist batsman, still harbours hopes of resurrecting his international career despite being overlooked during a prolific home season, the form from which does not seem to have dissipated after a few months off.

"I was happy with it. I haven't played for a while so wasn't 100% sure how I would strike the ball after a late arrival but I struck it as clean as I have for a while," he said. "My mindset coming over here has been staying true to how I want to play, not letting things that may come in the future get into my head. I just want to come out and play the way I want to play and I know my game is good enough to succeed in any format or any competition I play in."

Elsewhere there was a neat innings from Peter Handscomb (64) who many feel should be part of the current World Cup squad, while the same sentiment applies to Josh Hazlewood who bagged 2 for 51 in his first competitive outing since being laid low by a back injury in early January.

Mitchell Marsh, who was on standby to replace Marcus Stoinis at the World Cup, and Ashton Agar combined to take five wickets as Northamptonshire were held to 262 for 9 then Marsh helped complete the chase with an unbeaten 40.

However, it was mostly about Wade as he flayed 18 fours and three sixes in a powerful display with the Northamptonshire attack powerless to stop him. He added a rapid opening stand of 58 with D'Arcy Short - his partner contributing just 7 - then put on 85 in 10 overs with captain Travis Head. When he fell in just the 21st over, Wade had scored 117 of the 170 runs leaving a simple task for the middle order to finish things off with 14 overs to spare.

"I was feeling good, my timing was there which is always key," Wade said. "I've trained a long time in the nets the way I want to play in games. I'm quite attacking at the moment, but the mindset isn't to swing at every ball. When I feel I'm just trying to get myself in for 20-30 runs it never really works out, I need to walk out and me positive in the mind, look to score and in England you get such value for shots."

In the field, Hazlewood only had to wait until his third over to strike when he trapped Richard Levi lbw, but the Northamptonshire top order put in a solid display. Rob Newton (53) and Josh Cobb (49) added 92 before Marsh and Agar started to make inroads.

Alex Wakely also struck a half-century but when he fell to Agar in the 43rd over the lower order couldn't lift the tempo although an unbroken final-wicket stand of 30 meant the home side batted out their overs.

Marcus Stoinis feared his World Cup was over when he suffered the side strain which kept him out of Australia's team for two matches. Stoinis returned to the side and took two wickets in the 48-run win against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge and also contributed an unbeaten 17 with the bat.

Australia flew Mitchell Marsh, who was already heading to England for an Australia A tour, over early as cover while Stoinis' fitness was assessed and he admitted he feared the worst when he felt the pain in his side while bowling in Australia's group match against India.

"Your mind goes there," said Stoinis. "But I think once everything sort of settled you knew it was going to be alright. My initial thought when I did it in the second over was 'oh no, I'm out of the World Cup'.

"The last couple of weeks have been so exciting and a bit of a roller coaster. I was a bit down in the dumps after I hurt myself. And again now I'm back in the team and able to do my thing."

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His absence forced changes to Australia's batting and bowling line-ups against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which threatened to upset the balance of the side, although they were successful in the two matches he sat out. But Stoinis said, while the initial prognosis was unclear, he had to recover sufficiently by the game against Bangladesh to stay in the squad.

Ricky Ponting feeds the bowling machine for Marcus Stoinis and offers lots of encouragement and advice. #AUSvBAN #CWC19 @ESPNcricinfo pic.twitter.com/ySuOsQmqqd

— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) June 19, 2019

"We didn't put a time on it. The support staff did a really good job with that and not over reacting. At least going into this game, this was the deadline. I spent a bit of time with [David Beakley], the physio, and the doc. We were just doing some exercises on the side. A lot of icing at night. There's not much you can do outside of ice and get on the [resistance band] to get the muscle moving, really."

Stoinis added he was generally able to bowl at full pace against Bangladesh and was confident he could get through his allocated overs.

"It's different bowling in the nets and once the adrenaline gets going in the game. It's different bowling four overs compared to eight or 10. We weren't real sure but I was always confident."

Before he was back bowling at training, Stoinis continued to work on his batting in the nets and had a lengthy one-on-one session with Ricky Ponting feeding a bowling machine the day before his return to the side.

"If I could have one person in the world if I could have picked them when I was young to be coaching me in my batting, it would have been Ricky Ponting," he said. "He is an absolute legend, he's got a lot of knowledge about the game, so we have just been speaking about where he thinks I can go to the next level with my batting and that sort of thing. It's more just an open discussion, raising points, problem solving as we go. Coming up with different ideas."

Australia now head to London to prepare for their match against England at Lord's on Tuesday and Stoinis is keen to test his bowling mettle against England's formidable middle order.

"Yeah, it's going to be a good challenge. Hopefully I can nail some yorkers and bowl some good slower balls because we'll have to come up with some plans."

Stoinis pointed to Australia's recent ODI record stretching back to their tours of India and Pakistan as reasons for confidence against England and insisted Australia's record against them in recent years - they have won just four out of sixteen since the last World Cup and have been defeated in their past six encounters - counted for little in this tournament.

"Everyone has been working towards this for a long time," said Stoinis. "We've got two of the best players in the world who have come back into our side. We're doing things at the right time."

The Phoenix Suns are trading T.J. Warren and the No. 32 pick in Thursday's NBA draft to the Indiana Pacers, a league source told ESPN.

The Pacers will send cash to the Suns, according to a league source. Phoenix wanted to unload the three years and $35 million remaining on Warren's deal to create salary-cap space.

Warren averaged 18.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 43 games this past season, when he improved his shooting dramatically. He shot 28% from 3-point range in his first four years in the league but improved to 43% last season, the eighth-best percentage in the NBA among players with at least 100 attempts.

The trade will not be finalized until July 6, when the Pacers will have cap room to absorb Warren. Indiana will still have close to $31 million in room after the trade, with point guard Ricky Rubio a significant free-agent target for the team, sources said.

Phoenix will have $21 million in space, which would increase to $29.5 million if the Suns decline to re-sign Kelly Oubre Jr., who is a restricted free agent.

ESPN's Bobby Marks contributed to this report.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired the sixth pick in Thursday's NBA draft from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the 11th pick and forward Dario Saric, a league source told ESPN.

Minnesota president Gersson Rosas had been trying to move up to No. 4 or 5 before finally getting No. 6, sources said.

Texas Tech shooting guard Jarrett Culver was selected with the No. 6 pick on Thursday and will go to the Wolves once the deal is made official July 6. North Carolina forward Cameron Johnson, who was the No. 11 pick, will go to the Suns.

Phoenix wasn't done dealing Thursday night, acquiring the No. 24 pick and center Aron Baynes from the Boston Celtics and using the pick to select Virginia shooting guard Ty Jerome.

The Suns had the best chance at the top pick in the draft heading into the lottery before falling to sixth.

Saric averaged 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season, his third in the league and first with Minnesota after being drafted by Philadelphia.

Saric was acquired by Minnesota in the deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia. He is under contract next season at $3.5 million, and the Suns will have the right to extend him a $4.8 million qualifying offer for the 2020-21 season. If Phoenix does not, he would become an unrestricted free agent.