Courtesy FIFA.com: Defending Women’s World Cup champion United States may have to beat its two biggest rivals to reach the final of this year’s tournament.

The Americans, who completed a perfect first round by beating North Korea 3-0 on Sunday, will face 1995 champion Norway in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

If they win, the two-time champions could play China, the 1999 runner-up, in the semifinals.

“We know that Norway’s a great team and we just have to be on top of our game to do something special against them,” said United States striker Abby Wambach, who scored the first goal Sunday from the penalty spot.

“They’re going to come out and be on top of their game, as every team is going to be in the quarterfinals. It’s single-elimination and you’ve got to win to get through.”

China will have to beat Canada in the last eight in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday to advance.

“I have looked into Canada by watching tapes. We may have some changes to make when we play them,” China coach Ma Liangxing said. “We will need to play an aggressive and attacking game.”

In the other quarterfinals, Group B winner Brazil takes on Sweden in Foxboro and European champion Germany plays Russia in Portland.

The winner of the Brazil-Sweden match will play either Germany or Russia in the semifinals.

“World Cup matches are played at high level so it does not matter what team we will play as all the matches will be played seriously,” Russia coach Yuri Bystritsky said.

Germany and the United States were the only two teams to get through the first round with perfect records.

The Germans topped Canada, Japan and Argentina while the Americans beat Sweden and Nigeria before downing North Korea.

China, which had been a heavy favorite to win its first world title at home until SARS forced the competition to be moved, was held to a 1-1 draw by Australia in its second match.

But the Chinese rebounded to beat Russia in their final match _ even after they had qualified for the next round because of an earlier result _ and clinched first place in Group D.

“We were qualified before we started our game, so I told our players to have fun and play an entertaining and exciting game,” said Liangxing, whose team has scored just one goal in each match.

Pan American Games champion Brazil may have been the biggest surprise so far, edging Norway for first place in Group B.

“I am not looking forward to playing Brazil because we lost to them in the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup and also in the 2000 Olympics,” Sweden coach Marika Domanski Lyfors said.

The Brazilians beat Norway and South Korea, and drew with France in the first round.