Manchester City duo Steph Houghton and Nikita Parris scored superb goals as the Lionesses rallied in the wake of Megan Rapinoe’s sensational opener for the United States.
Tobin Heath grabbed the equalizer for the Americans in the 67th minute, poking the ball over in a wild goal-mouth scramble.
The Americans were coming off a 2-2 draw with Japan in their tournament opener.
Rapinoe gave them the lead against England in the 33rd minute with a brilliant volley.
Just minutes later a miscommunication between US goalkeeper Adrianna Franch and her back line saw England awarded a free kick.
Houghton struck it well to knot the score at 1-1 in the 36th minute.
England seized the lead in the 52nd minute after Fran Kirby’s pass found Parris, who finished at the far post.
The round-robin tournament will now come down to Tuesday’s final matches.
Japan top the table on goal difference and take on England while the United States must beat Brazil and hope the two teams above them draw to have any chance to retain their title.
It’s not where the mighty Americans would prefer to be in the warm-up event for this year’s World Cup in France, and Rapinoe said they have to put a stop to “too many technical errors, too many tactical lapses”.
“Obviously there are a lot of things we need to fix — the goals-against,” she said. “There’s some great lessons in here for us, but we have to learn them. We cannot keep making the same mistakes over and over again.”
Coach Jill Ellis — who gave Franch her international debut in goal with Alyssa Naeher out with a “minor shoulder injury” — said she liked what she saw from her team in the closing stages.
Now she wants to see her players “start the game with the same intensity and enthusiasm (that) we finished that game”.
In the first game of the day’s double-header, Japan scored twice in the last 10 minutes in a 3-1 victory over Brazil.
Rikako Kobayashi’s 81st-minute header put Japan up 2-1 and Yui Hasegawa extended the lead in the 85th.
Yuka Momiki opened the scoring in the 44th, chipping a shot over Aline for her second goal of the tournament, with Debinha grabbing the equalizer in the 57th.
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