>>>>>The fat lady isn't singing yet :o)
>>>>>
>>>>>Kudos to Norway...
>>>>
>>>>All my worrying was for nothing. The U.S. Women's Soccer team beats Brazil 1-0 for the gold medal. That definitely takes the sting away from last year's World Cup.
>>>
>>>I know. Although the process seems strange to me, but I guess it is accepted by everyone:
>>>
>>>http://ussoccer.com/teams/womens/woc/index.jsp.html
>>
>>What is strange about it?
>
>Teams don't get eliminated in the first rounds. They earn points by winning/losing/tying...

That's true of most if not all of the team competitions. There is a pool round, then the teams with the best records in their pools advance to the medal round. At that point it becomes single elimination. The World Cup also works that way.