SHANGHAI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Germany became the first team to retain the Women's World Cup title in 16 years after beating Brazil 2-0 here on Sunday, while the United States settled for the bronze with a 4-1 victory over Norway.

The 2003 champion had a possession of around 40 percent throughout the game but earned the crucial opening goal, as their star striker Birgit Prinz received a fine pass inside the penalty box from fellow forward Sandra Smisek and right-footed the ball to beat Brazilian keeper Andreia in the 52nd minute.

With only four minute left on the clock, Simone Laudehr dived in a header on 86 minutes after Fatmire Bajramaj forced a corner and Renate Lingor swung it in the box to give Laudehr a perfect angle to shoot.

Germany, walking through the 2007 world cup with an incredible clean sheet, thus extended their record of conceding none to 619 minutes and topped the scoring tally of the tournament with 21 goals for and none against.

The victory helped Germany break the jinx and created history, and on the other hand, it pricked the dream of Brazil into bubbles as they had expected to become the first South American side to take the trophy.

Marta, the unchallenged winner of the tournament's Golden Shoe prize with 7 goals, failed to match her previous brilliance to give Brazil a score, though the Athens Olympic runners-up firmly controlled the game, showed their eye-catching skills and the potential for winning a world trophy, and even ran a series of attacking attempts prior to the half-hour mark.

The FIFA's Player of the Year in 2006 made a superb run in the 59th minute when goalie Andreia's released after clearing a Germany attack stunningly found a quick reacting Marta back in the rival's half and the 21-year-old talent brought the ball down into the penalty box before being stolen by the all time following defenders.

Marta again earned her chance to win an equalizer after Cristiane was tackled down by Linda Bresonik on 62 minutes, but Marta's penalty kick was blocked by German goalie Nadine Angerer.

Earlier in the third-place playoff, two-time champions United States crushed one-time champion Norway 4-1 to keep themselves still the only team to be in the top three of every World Cup.

In the tight duel, American striker Abby Wambach broke the deadlock in the 30th minute when she deflected home a powerful long shot made by midfielder Lori Chalupny.

Wambach scored again only one minute into the second half when she slot home a left-wing cross in a goalmouth melee. With the two goals, Wambach, who had an astonishing goals-to-games ratio for the United States in recent years, stood at the second place on the scorer tally with six goals, following Brazilian world-class striker Marta who collected seven goals and has one match (final) to play tonight.

Chalupny, who assisted Wambach to score the first goal, captured a defender's error in the box on 58 minutes and blasted a left-foot low shot home to make it 3-0. She was named the Player of the Match.

One minute later, American forward Heather O'Reilly tapped home a close-range reflection to seal the win.

Norwegian striker Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, who scored five times in the group stage, made a consolation goal in the 63rd minute with a 10-meter-long powerful header.