July 06--REPORTING FROM VANCOUVER, Canada -- For a time when she was younger, Carli Lloyd wasn't sure she belonged on the U.S. national team.
And just two weeks ago she wasn't sure where she fit into the U.S. attack in this Women's World Cup.
But on Sunday she finally found her place -- in the record books -- after scoring three goals in the first 16 minutes of the championship game, leading the U.S. to a convincing 5-2 win over Japan before an overwhemingly pro-American crowd of 53,341 at BC Place.
The five goals are the most scored by one team in a Women's World Cup final while for Lloyd the hat trick, the quickest ever by an American in a World Cup, gave her a tournament-best six goals -- the last three all game-winners. She earned the Golden Ball award as the outstanding player of the tournament.
Almost as important, the performance chased away the stubborn ghosts of 1999, which have haunted the U.S. women since they last won a World Cup.
"It's been a lot of years in between '99 and now. And I think it's time," said defender Christie Rampone, the only woman to play for both teams.
"I hope it's not compared to '99 anymore. I hope it's leading on to the next team that wins the World Cup," said Rampone, who made her 19th World Cup appearance in the closing minutes Sunday.
"That's the standard."
Lloyd might have set a new standard Sunday.
Her first two goals came on similar set pieces -- the first on a corner kick by Megan Rapinoe and the second on a free kick by Lauren Holiday. On both plays Lloyd started at the edge of the penalty area then charged into the box unmarked to recover loose balls on the edge of the goal, redirecting them into the net.
But her third goal was clearly the best of the tournament. As she dribbled toward midfield, Lloyd looked up to see Japanese keeper Ayumi Kaihori had strayed dangerously far from the goal line. So Lloyd fired a right-footed shot from 50 yards out.
Kaihori, backpedaling furiously, got the fingers of her right hand on the ball but that wasn't enough to stop it, with the ball hitting the turf, then kissing the left post before going in to give the U.S. a 4-0 lead.
Japan offered a murmur of protest in the 27th minute when Yuki Ogimi scored after defender Julie Johnston tumbled to the turf as they battled for possession of the ball. But even that was newsworthy since it was just the second goal the U.S. has given up in this World Cup.
Japan's second score, in the opening minutes of the second half, again came courtesy of Johnston, who headed the ball into her own goal. But midfielder Tobin Heath quickly got that back in the 54th minute, accounting for the final score.
That also goal brought an early end to the largest and longest Women's World Cup ever, one that saw 24 teams play 52 matches across a continent-sized country in the course of a month. And for the first time in a World Cup, every game was played on artifical turf.
It was a tournament that brought Abby Wambach her elusive World Cup title, the only thing that was missing from a resume that includes two Olympic crowns, a world player of the year award and the most international goals -- 183 -- in history.
And it was fitting that Lloyd was the one to bring her that trophy.
In this World Cup the 35-year-old Wambach has been a part-time player, starting just three of the seven U.S. games while Lloyd has assumed the mantle of team leader and star.
Lloyd now wears the captain's armband as well. And to complete the changing of the guard, Wambach entered the field first for warmups on Sunday -- with Lloyd following a few yards behind. Much of the rest of the team waited in the tunnel.
When Wambach finally entered the game in the 79th minute, one of the first players to greet her was Homare Sawa, Japan's all-time leader in games and goals who, at 36, has also been a bench player in her final World Cup.
Minutes later, Sawa tripped Wambach, earning a yellow card.
Sunday's victory also provided a measure of redemption for troubled goalkeeper Hope Solo, who was suspended from the team last winter and this month faces an appeal of a judge's decision to dismiss two domestic assault charges against her.
In between she had a brilliant World Cup, posting five shutouts and 540 consecutive scoreless minutes, trying a World Cup record. And she was at her best Sunday, making five saves, some of them acrobatic stops. She earned her second Golden Glove award as the outstanding goalkeeper of the World Cup.
But the victory might have been most satisfying for Coach Jill Ellis, who believed in her gameplan even as the U.S. stumbled through group play. It's a confidence she learned from her father John, a former national team coach who sent her daughter the same text message every day during this tournament.
"It says: 'Three deep breaths and keep going,'" Jill Ellis said. "I know he's there with me in spirit."
Coaching in her first World Cup, Ellis benched Wambach and repeated lineups just twice. She also went with half a dozen different formations and tried five players at forward, all while saying she wasn't changing a thing.
But the puzzle didn't fully come together until she inserted Morgan Brian, at 22, the youngest player on the U.S. team, into the lineup as a holding midfielder in the quarterfinal with China. That allowed Lloyd to roam free and join the attack.
And she took advantage, scoring five times in the final three games.
As it turned out, that was the decision that won Ellis, Wambach and the U.S. a World Cup. And it was the one that earned Lloyd a spot in the record books.
Here's a recap of the game:
Tobin Heath scored the fifth goal for the U.S. in the 55th minute, erasing a Japanese tally just minutes earlier and giving the U.S. a 5-2 lead in the Women's World Cup final.
Japan's goal was actually scored by U.S. defender Julie Johnston, who has been brilliant in the tournament but is responsible for both Japanese scores today.
Johnston went up to try to head a ball out of danger but sent it the other way instead, with the shot spinning just outside of goalkeeper Hope Solo's reach and into the net at the far post for an own goal.
Johnston fell to the turf in the first half, clearing Yuki Ogimi to score Japan's first goal.
U.S. leads Japan, 4-1, at halftime
Japanese captain Aya Miyama said before the game that the first score in the Women's World Cup final today would be crucial. Now she's hoping she was wrong.
Halfway through the championship game the U.S. leads 4-1 on three goals in the first 16 minutes by Carli Lloyd -- including a 50-yard strike that surprised Japanese keeper Ayumi Kaihori, who had wandered too far off her line.
Lauren Holiday had the other American goal in the 14th minute.
Japan pulled back one goal in the 28th minute on a left-footed shot by Yuki Ogimi, which was news in itself since it was just the second goal the U.S. has given up in this tournament.
Japan finally scores
Japan stems the U.S. tide with a goal in the 28th minute on a left-footed shot by Yuki Ogimi to cut the U.S. lead to 4-1.
Ogimi got the bar in the center of the penalty box and spun away from defender Julie Johnston, who fell to the turf.
That gave Ogimi an open shot and she buried it. It's just the seconed goal U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo has given up in the tournament -- and the first in 540 minutes.
U.S. takes 4-0 lead
The ghosts of 1999 should start packing.
Lauren Holiday makes it 3-0 in the 14th minute after a poor Japanese clearance and then Carli Lloyd makes it 4-0 on her third goal in the opening 16 minutes on a wonderful strike from the midfield stripe.
Lloyd's shot caught Japanese keeper Ayumi Kaihori completely by surprise and gave her six goals in the tournament, all in the last four games.
The U.S. is off to a good start as it chases its first Women's World Cup title in 16 years.
U.S. scores two early goals
The Women's World Cup championship game is underway at BC Place.
Each team makes a quick foray into the other team's end of the field, with the U.S. soon controlling the action.
The Americans earn a corner kick in the third minute after advancing the ball to Alex Morgan in the penalty box.
And the U.S. opens the scoring on a header by Carli Lloyd off the corner kick. She has now scored a goal in four consecutive games.
Lloyd makes it 2-0 in the fifth minute. This time off a free kick. Lloyd has been completely unmarked on both scores, charging into the box from the edge of the area both times to clean up loose balls.
She now has five goals in the tournament.
Pregame
For just the second time in seven Women's World Cup games, U.S. Coach Jill Ellis is reusing a lineup she had previously started, leaving Abby Wambach on the bench to begin the final World Cup game of her storied career.
The skies above BC Place -- which is packed with American fans for Sunday's final between the U.S. and Japan -- are cloudless but the air is heavy with the smell of smoke from nearby wildfires that have forced hundreds of families to evacuate their homes.
Ash and haze from the fires are visible in parts of Vancouver and local hospitals have been treating dozens of people for respiratory problems caused by the smole.
Ellis will start Alex Morgan as a lone striker up top and use five women -- Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Lauren Holiday, Morgan Brian and Tobin Heath -- in the midfield.
The backline remains unchanged with Ali Kreiger, Becky Sauerbrun, Julie Johnston and Megan Klingenberg starting in front of goalkeeper Hope Solo. That combination has produced five shutouts in this World Cup and has given up only one goal in 513 consecutive minutes.
To do that Solo has made just 12 saves, facing only 13 shots.
The U.S. will be looking to end a 16-year title drought in the World Cup, having last won the championship in 1999.
And the Americans will try to avenge the penalty-kick loss to Japan four years ago.
Wambach is seeking her first World Cup title.
"It's been that thing that fuels our fire, that motivates us to do that extra sprint, to make that extra fight to extend and to search for that ball," said Wambach, who admitted she can't recall the exact date of any game she's played in except that one. "It's always there. That's what happens with heartbreak. Heartbreak never goes away."
On Sunday, Wambach and the U.S. get a chance to erase that heartbreak and grab the brass ring in the final of this year's World Cup before a sellout crowd at Vancouver's BC Place.
"All I care about," Wambach said Friday "is winning this World Cup."
Yet no matter the outcome of today's final, the big winner figures to be the sport. Once written off as a boring diversion for immigrants and young children, soccer is now drawing passionate interest across the U.S.
"I feel like we are building on what happened last year in the World Cup in terms of just the general population being exposed to the game, so it's important for us," said Jill Ellis, head coach of the U.S. "It continues to excite little girls who want to go out and kick a ball and think they can maybe be on the team and play in a World Cup."
Today's final is already oversold with SeatGeek, a major Web-based ticket agency, which called it the most expensive soccer match in North America since at least 2010.
More than $2.8 million worth of tickets are expected to change hands on the secondary market alone, and tickets for the final match are selling for more than $700.
