More soccer blogging...

A nice win for the US over North Korea today. It's really special to watch this team play. I'm not much of a soccer fan, but I feel like I've been cheering for this group of women for years. There's a sense of continuity -- and a sense that this really is a team -- that you just don't see elsewhere, especially in international competition.

Mia Hamm rested for the day, and her younger teammates took over -- Cat Reddick scored twice. Even though her famous fiancee had taken the day off to see her play, Mia was fine sitting.

"I was fine with the decision," said Hamm. "You balance between wanting to stay sharp but also understanding that another day's rest is going to help. So the athlete in you wants to be competitive, but our team was great today. As soon as we got the second goal and definitely the third goal, I knew I wasn't going in."

The elimination play now begins, and the US will face Norway on Wednesday. The US and Norway are probably the two best teams in the world, and the US-Norway rivalry is the best in the game. It's too bad they're playing so early, but it should be awesome.

The depth of the US team should continue to help. But they will have to find some way to score other than off set-pieces once they start facing the other top teams.

ESPN2 Wednesday night. Be there or be square.