Women's Team USA Wins World Cup against Japan 5-2

By Christy Flom on July 6, 2015

As the Fourth of July celebrations lingered and the weekend began coming to an end, America had a new reason to celebrate. The women’s USA soccer team won the World Cup Sunday evening with a score of 5-2 in Vancouver, Canada.

In a rematch from the 2011 World Cup final, many had high expectations of a close and thrilling game. The U.S., however, had a different game plan. Dominating from the start, team USA managed to score early and maintain the lead throughout the first half.

image by Eric Hunsaker via flickr.com

Starting the team off strong was Carli Lloyd scoring in the third minute of the game off of a corner kick. Scoring that fast in the championship game is a rare occurrence. Scoring again two minutes later is even more unheard of in the World Cup. Yet, that’s exactly what Lloyd did, scoring again at the 5 minute mark, knocking the ball in after a net-mouth scramble.

After her second goal, Japan kept the game under control for a bit, thwarting off the U.S. attacks. However, it wasn’t long before Lauren Holiday blasted a goal in the upper right corner off of a misplaced Japanese header against Japan goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori at the 14-minute mark.

Remember how unheard of it is for a player to score twice in the early minutes of the game? Well, Lloyd kept the momentum going, scoring a third time after taking a few touches just past the halfway line on the field. Blasting the ball over the goalkeeper’s head, it bounced in coming off of an unbalanced and falling over Kaihorai giving Lloyd a hat-trick in the World Cup championship game. This world-class goal sealed Lloyd’s hat-trick, making it the first hat trick in Women’s World Cup championship game history and the quickest hat trick in Women’s World Cup history.

Then the game finally slowed down, and Japan gained several more opportunities to test USA goalkeeper Hope Solo. At the 27-minute mark, Yuki Ogimi for Japan won a battle against U.S. defender Julie Johnston to slide one past Solo. Japan was still down by three goals but this was a significant accomplishment for Japan as it was one of the only three goals scored on Solo in the entire tournament. This goal gave Japan a small amount of momentum, as they were able to keep USA at bay throughout the remainder of the first half.

During the second half, it was Japan’s turn to score in the early minutes. In an attempt to head the ball out of the box, Johnston deflected the ball away from Solo’s hands as it bounced into the far corner of the goal.

As the clock kept running, the United States quickly sealed the deal on the game with a goal from midfielder Tobin Heath off of a cross from Morgan Brian in the 54th minute.

The final minutes of the game consisted of several substitutions for team USA including the cornerstones of USA Women’s soccer for the last decade, Abby Wambach and Christie Rampone.

After a flurry of opportunities from each side and a final push by Japan, the referee blew the final whistle after three minutes of added time. Pandemonium set in as the United States rushed the field, at last winning their first World Cup championship since 1999.

Image via BlenderDiplom on flickr.com

Celebrations and awards ensued, with Lloyd receiving the Silver Boot and Golden Ball. Lloyd was barely ousted by Germany striker Celia Sasic for the Golden Boot. Both scored six goals and had one assist in the tournament, but Sasic played fewer minutes than Lloyd, which granted her the award. Hope Solo took home the Golden Glove award for the second World Cup in a row. Coming into the championship game, Solo allowed only one goal, being barely tested until the championship game.

Following the tournament awards, Team USA accepted their individual medals with Rampone and Wambach hosting the World Cup trophy into the air solidifying their dominance in women’s soccer international history. These two players will be surely missed for generations to come and certainly in the next Women’s Word Cup in France in 2019.

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