China beat Russia to finish top of Group D

China kept alive their hopes of improving on their 1999 Women's World Cup runner-up finish, closing out the first round with a 1-0 victory over Russia to finish top of Group D.

The defending champion United States and Sweden also confirmed their quarter-final berths with victories Sunday on the final day of first-round action.

The Chinese will play Canada in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, where the Russians will meet European Champions Germany on the same day.

The United States defeated North Korea 3-0 to finish top of Group A, and will meet Group B runners-up Norway on Wednesday in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

The Swedes, who stopped Nigeria 3-0 to finish in second place in Group A, will take on Group B winners Brazil in Foxboro on Wednesday.

In Group D on Sunday, Alberta Sackey and Ghana ended Australia's faint hopes with a 2-1 victory in Portland.

Sackey scored twice in the space of five minutes to lift Ghana to their first ever World Cup victory, while Australia, which had managed a 1-1 draw with China and needed to beat Ghana to have a chance of advancing, remained without a Women's World Cup win on their resume.

The Africans went on the offensive early on before Sackey fired a shot that bounced off Australian captain Cheryl Salisbury and past goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri in the 34th minute, Ghana's first goal of the tournament.

Five minutes later Sackey put in her own rebound after Barbieri fell and defender Dianne Alagich cleared off the line.

The Australians sliced the lead in half as Heather Garriock beat goalkeeper Memunatu Sulemana in the 62nd minute.

"The first half was really disappointing," said Australia coach Adrian Santrac. "Ghana came to play with the passion and pride we expected, and we sat back and waited for things to develop. Im still scratching my head wondering what happened in the first half."

Ghana's victory left China and Russia to battle each other to determine first and second place in Group D. China needed a victory to capture the top spot while Russia could have done so with a draw.

Bai Jie scored her second goal of the tournament in the 16th minute and China made it stand up before a crowd of 19,132.

Sun Wen, the 1999 goal-scoring champion, set up Bai Jie, who beat goalkeeper Alla Volkova.

Sun, who needs one goal to tie retired US star Michelle Akers for the all-time Women's World Cup goal lead at 12, thought she had scored early on, but was ruled offside.

Nevertheless, China dominated the match against the defensive-minded Russians, who suffered a blow in the final minute when Elena Fomina was shown her second yellow card of the opening round, which means she will miss the quarter-final against Germany.

In Columbus, Ohio, midfielder Hanna Ljungberg scored twice in the second half to lead Sweden into the quarter-finals for the first time since the 1991 World Cup.

The Swedes had trouble solving Nigerian goalkeeper Precious Dede in the opening half as she made several outstanding saves to keep the Africans in the match.

"We felt we created many chances. We were better than Nigeria," Ljungberg said. "We knew we were going to score in the second half."

The Swedes finally broke through in the 56th minute. Captain Malin Andersson took a 25-yard free kick from the left side that appeared to be going out of bounds at the far post. Victoria Svensson saved the ball and crossed it cross it to Hanna Ljungberg, who headed it in from three yards for a 1-0 lead.

Ljungberg struck again in the 79th minute, knocking home second-half substitute Therese Sjoegran's right-wing cross from four yards.

Barely two minutes later, Malin Mostroem ran through the Nigerian defense and fired in a left-footed shot past Dede for a 3-0 advantage.

The United States' victory over North Korea earned them a quarter-final shot at a much more familiar foe: Olympic champions Norway.

Cat Reddick, the only college player on the star-studded American squad, scored a pair of second-half goals for the hosts as the highly touted North Koreans wee eliminated.

"You never know what is going to happen through the course of the game," US coach April Heinrichs said. "You have to respect your opponent. We didnt step out on the field with any intention of tying. We stepped out on that field with every intention of doing everything that we could to win. I think that our players were inspired and motivated to do that."

Abby Wambach opened the scoring with a penalty in the 17th minute.

Reddick doubled the score in the 48th when she deflected the ball off her belly from cloe range into the net.

Her second strike was more emphatic as she headed in Shannon MacMillan's corner in the 66th minute.