U.S. women's soccer does "the worm" after victory

(CBS/AP) Abby Wambach became the first non-British woman to score a gold at Old Trafford, home to England's professional team Manchester United. She and her teammates celebrated their 1-0 victory over North Korea at the venue by convincing teammate Hope Solo to get on the ground and do "the worm."

"The worm at Old Trafford! Are you kidding me?" Solo said.

There were other such moments unfamiliar to the venerable home of Man-U on Tuesday, when chants of "U-S-A!" echoed for the American's victory in front of 29,522 fans - easily the largest crowd ever to occupy the familiar red seats for a women's game.

The victory gave the U.S. team first place in its group with three wins in three games, the first time the Americans have ever swept their group opponents in Olympic play. They were already assured a berth in the next round entering the game, and they'll now move on to Newcastle for a quarterfinal match on Friday against New Zealand.

Although claiming to be a reluctant participant, Solo and captain Christie Rampone flopped to the ground after Wambach's goal in the 25th minute. The other nine players joined hands, wriggled their arms like a giant worm and pointed to the pair of players doing the funky dance move from the 1970s and '80s.

"Hope doesn't get involved in the celebrations very often," Wambach said. "And so we wanted to get her involved, and she said the worm is one of the things that she can contribute, so we kind of planned it out before the game. Thankfully we got the goal so that we could actually display it."

Solo could probably pick any dance she wanted, having appeared on "Dancing With the Stars" last year. Wambach said the celebration was a late birthday present for the goalkeeper, who turned 31 on Monday, but it also served to reinforce team camaraderie after Solo's recent Twitter rant that prompted a meeting with the coach and captains.

"I think that Hope prefers the wins and the shutouts as birthday presents," Wambach said. "But it was great to get her involved because it makes us feel what the game is about. It's about fun. It's about laughing and enjoying it out there - because how often are you going to say you played at Old Trafford and scored a goal?"

The North Koreans finished with a 1-2 record in the group and still had a chance to advance, but they were eliminated later in the day when New Zealand claimed the final quarterfinal berth with a win over Cameroon.

North Korea is ranked in the top 10 in the world, but it remains an unknown in women's soccer because players and officials have limited interaction with other teams. The country sent a very young squad to these Olympics: The average age of 19 years, 11 months made it look like a junior club next to the Americans, who checked in at 28 years, 1 month.

"Our team is made up of very young players, so there is nobody who can blame them for not doing well," coach Sin Ui Gun said through an interpreter. "This time it was a great experience for them."

The two teams played ping pong together before the match, Shannon Boxx, U.S. midfielder, told Reuters after the game. The women did not worry about the difference in politics between their two nations.

"The beautiful part about what we're doing and it being the Olympics is we don't have to worry about that,'' Wambach told Reuters. "This is where we can put our differences aside, go out on the pitch and play for glory and that's what we're here for."