Abby Wambach swung her header in the 112th minute to help the United States beat Brazil 2-1 in extra time and win the women's soccer gold medal at the Athens Olympic Games in Athens Thursday evening.

This was the second Olympic gold for the Americans after their triumph in Atlanta in 1996 on home turf, while Brazil recorded its first-ever Olympic medal for the women footballers.

"Our team has come to top again after years of speculations on whether it can come back again," said US head coach April Heinrichs.

"Players displayed passion and athletic competition in the game, " Heinrichs said, adding that the Brazilian team is very good and "can be the best in the world."

"The spectators are the real winners today as we have a great game," said Brazilian head coach Rene Simoes, "It is a wonderful game, but United States is a better team tonight."

"I had a dream," the Brazilian coach said, "That's to have a team that is as physically strong as the US team and as concentrated and well-organized as the Germans, and the dream comes true."

Simoes explained that "the silver medal is a bonus for the team " which was officially formed only five months ago.

In the 73rd minute, Pretinha netted the equalizer to force the overtime after Lindsay Tarpley opened the account for the United States in the 39th minute.

The first 30 minutes featured fruitless tit-for-tat attacks as both goalkeepers succeeded in their greatest saves.

After lagging behind one goal down, Cristiane, one of the top scorers in the Games, beat four American defenders from the left, flicked the ball to the running Pretinha who tapped it to the back of the net.

Two minutes later, Cristiane made her interception but her slam was bounded off the post.

Pretinha almost made it 2-1 for Brazil in the 89th minute when her shot was also stopped by the post.

Earlier of the day, Germany beat Sweden 1-0 to take the bronze medal.