For Kristine Lilly, the beginning was a long time ago and the memory is a bit hazy.

Lilly is the most experienced player in international soccer history and she leads the U.S. team into the women’s World Cup which starts today in China.

The United States plays its first match against North Korea at 2:55 a.m. Tuesday in Chengdu. North Korea has already qualified for next summer’s Olympics and the U.S. team hopes to qualify with a top three finish in this tournament. The final game is Sept. 30 in Shanghai.

The U.S. is unbeaten in regulation in its past 47 games. Coach Greg Ryan, a Colorado Springs resident, has led the U.S. to six titles in seven tournaments since he replaced April Heinrichs in 2005.

Lilly, now 36, was named to the U.S. team that played in the first women’s World Cup tournament in 1991.

“I’m trying to remember where I was, and I don’t remember if I can,” Lilly said on a recent conference call of that first team announcement. “There wasn’t much publicity.”

The U.S. team gained national and world attention in 1999 when it won the World Cup title in Pasadena, Calif.

Though millions of young girls were inspired to play soccer, interest in the national team waned. One attempt at a pro league — the Women’s United Soccer Association — ended in 2003. Another league will try in 2009, with teams in seven cities.

This World Cup will be Lilly’s last, but the durable U.S. captain has not set a timetable for retirement from soccer. She might wait until after the 2008 Olympics, which would be her fourth. She won gold medals in 1996 and 2004 and a silver in 2000.

“I can guarantee this is going to be my last World Cup,” said Lilly, who got married last October. “I’m going to play through this World Cup and see what happens. I want to make sure I don’t jump the gun and make any decisions before I really feel it in my heart.”

Lilly is the only U.S. player who has been part of all five World Cup teams. Her 126 goals and 100 assists are the second-most in U.S. national team history behind Mia Hamm.

Hamm has retired, as have Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Joy Fawcett, Julie Foudy and Carla Overbeck — the faces of U.S. wins at the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and the 1996 and 2004 Olympics.

Abby Wambach doesn’t expect this team to draw the same sort of crowds or create the same buzz.

“They call it the Mia factor,” said Wambach, the team’s leading scorer with 11 goals this season. “You lose a lot of attention when the most well-known star on your team retires. When you focus all of your energy on one person for so many years, a lot of people can get left in the shadows.”

Goalkeeper Hope Solo is an emerging international women’s soccer star, with a catchy name and flashy statistics. She has a 33-4-7 record, 25 shutouts and a 0.646 goals-against average.

Fourteen players on the 21-person roster are 27 or younger. Only four players — Lilly, Markgraf, Christie Rampone and Briana Scurry — have won a World Cup.

“We have a product that we believe in, that we shed blood, sweat and tears over,” Wambach said. “If people can just grab onto this. We’re not the type of team that’s going to force it down your throat. We want people to appreciate what we have.”

Lilly enters the homestretch of her career, having appeared in the World Cup four times and the Olympics three times. The 331 games she has played are the most by a man or a woman in international soccer.

Playing soccer has enabled Lilly to make a bigger impact than she imagined. She said countless kids have told her they wear No. 13 because of her or their favorite color is red because of the jerseys the U.S. national team made popular at the 2004 Athens Games.

“Not only do I get to play soccer, I get to make a difference,” Lilly said. “It’s a great gig. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done. I’m going to do it as long as I can.”