Abby Wambach (L) of the United States jumps for the ball during the third place match against Norway at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in Shanghai, east China, yesterday. - Xinhua

Two-time World Cup champions United States crushed one-time champion Norway 4-1 in their third-place playoff at the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup yesterday.

The United States were and still are the only team to be in the top three of every World Cup. And it was the first time for a North American team to take on a European side at this stage in World Cup history.

US coach Greg Ryan said, "I am deeply impressed with my players. They were supporting each other today after the loss in the semi-final."

"I was so happy that the players were relaxed. They were playing entertaining soccer. They did a great job," Ryan added.

Norway coach Bjame Berntsen said, "Our defense was very poor in the beginning of the second half."

In the tight duel, American striker Abby Wambach broke the deadlock in the 30th minute when she deflected home a powerful long shot made by midfielder Lori Chalupny.

Wambach scored again only one minute into the second half when she slot home a left-wing cross in a goalmouth melee.

With the two goals, Wambach, who had an astonishing goals-to-games ratio for the United States in recent years, stood at the second place on the scorer tally with six goals, following Brazilian world-class striker Marta who collected seven goals and has one match (final) to play tonight.

Chalupny, who assisted Wambach to score the first goal, captured a defender's error in the box on 58 minutes and blasted a left-foot low shot home to make it 3-0. She was named the Player of the Match.

One minute later, American forward Heather O'Reilly tapped home a close-range reflection to seal the win.

Norwegian striker Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, who scored five times in the group stage, made a consolation goal in the 63rd minute with a 10-meter-long powerful header.

With the goal, Gulbrandsen shared the second place with Wambachon the scorer list.

Berntsen said, "This match showed the difference of fitness level and the strength of the two teams. The United States were better than us."

"We are very skilful and we can play good football. But we cannot do it when we are tired," he admitted.

Norwegian forward Melissa Wiik almost made Norway 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when she burst into an open area in the box but her diving header on a right-wing cross went wide.

In yesterday's match, the United States were without their star midfielder Shannon Boxx who was red-carded against Brazil.

Both teams suffered heavy losses in the semi-finals. The Americans were humiliated by the Marta-led Brazilians 4-0, which ended their 51-game unbeaten run in the world arena. The Norwegians were trounced by the Prinz-led Germans 3-0, although they even dominated the first 35 minutes.

In the previous four World Cup finals, the United States were crowned in 1991 and 1999 while Norway claimed the title in 1995.

The two sides met each other 40 times before tonight's duel. The United States earned 20 wins and two draws.

In the World Cup history, the United States beat Norway 2-1 and 1-0 in 1991 and 2003, while Norway edged the United States 1-0 in 1995.