"A 3-0 victory in our first game, you kind of get the butterflies out," said Hamm, who increased her world records tallies with her 152nd goal and 130th assist.

"For us to start off this tournament stroking the ball around, creating scoring chances and finishing three of them is a wonderful place for us to be," coach April Heinrichs added. "It's one step — getting our feet wet looking forward to the next game."

The easy victory against the Greeks was expected. Women's soccer is barely recognized in Greece, and eight of the team's 18 players are Greek-Americans who have played for U.S. colleges.

The Greeks kept the score down with a bunker mentality, regularly keeping as many as eight players within 20 yards of the goal for most of the game.

"What we have tried to do is make a decent appearance, and we do believe we have achieved that," Greek coach Xanthi Konstandinidou said. "The score could have been a lot worse."

The lack of enthusiasm for women's soccer in Greece was evident in the disappointing crowd at kickoff in the seaside, fully renovated Pankrito Stadium on the island of Crete. More than two-thirds of the 27,000 seats were empty when the game began, although the cheaper end zone seats were nearing capacity in the second half, raising the announced attendance to 15,757. Sporadic chants of "Greece! Greece!" failed to rally the home team and overcome Hamm.

Hamm is playing so well that questions are bound to resurface as to why she would want to quit now, but she and teammates prefer to take the view that she simply wants to go out at the top of her game.

"We're going to let her have her fun and enjoy life," Boxx said. "Without soccer."