CHENGDU, Southwest China, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Pre-tournament favorites the United States scored a late goal to avoid a defeat in their opening Women's World Cup Group B campaign here on Tuesday against highly expected "Dark Horses" DPRK.

Heather O'Reilly denied a giant-killing run from DPRK, volleying in a loose ball to level it 2-2 for the United States on 69 minutes after Kristine Lilly's pass into the penalty box was touched off.

The all-time leaders to women's soccer world, who won the World Cup title in 1999 and 2003 on home soil, opened the match with better controls on the ball and more stylish attacks, earned five corner kicks before the break against the Koreans' sole one, but failed to convert any of their opportunities into goals.

It's not until five minutes into the second half when the CONCACAF champions' key striker Abby Wambach made the breakthrough with a powerful shot inside the penalty box after a nice effort from her teammates.

But DPRK did not let the Americans lead for long as their forward Kil Son Hui received pass from the middle routine and linked it up with a long but weak kick in the 58th minute to send a ball through the U.S. goalie Hope Solo's fingers.

Just four minutes later, the former Asian champions further improved the score line with the first half substitute Kim Yong Ae being picked up by a loose ball in front of the rivals goal to make it 2-1 after the Koreans made a goalmouth mass by a front half free kick.