One year ago today: Re-live the USWNT's stunning Women's World Cup victory
Exactly one year ago, the U.S. women's national team became world champions and Carli Lloyd became an American soccer hero.
Going into the Women's World Cup final on July 5, 2015, Lloyd had already been having a good tournament — but by that evening, she would become an overnight sensation and a lock to win FIFA's Female World Player of the Year, the highest possible honor for an individual player.
The key for the Americans' late run through the tournament was largely in unleashing all that is Lloyd. USWNT coach Jill Ellis tweaked her system after a lackluster group stage and made the central midfielder a de facto forward, whose only job was to hunt for goals.
When the whistle blew and the Americans had their chance to avenge their loss to Japan four years earlier, they wasted no time. It took less than three minutes for the Americans, and more specifically Lloyd, to start scoring.
Assistant USWNT coach Tony Gustavsson designed a new set piece play that the team had practiced for the first time the day before the final. In it, Lloyd started some 30 yards out but sprinted into the box toward the goal just as the corner kick was to be taken.
Megan Rapinoe's low, skipping ball went right where it was supposed to go, and Lloyd executed her run perfectly. This was the result:
Two minutes later, the U.S. and Lloyd did nearly the same thing. The Japanese players never seemed to notice Lloyd darting into the box.
By the 15th minute, Lauren Holiday netted her own fantastic volley, which is the kind of goal that would normally be the highlight of a match, but was overshadowed by Lloyd's quick brace up to that point:
Then, this happened. The crowd went wild while reporters in the press tribune looked at each other in disbelief. Did Carli Lloyd really just score from the center line of the field? It ended up being the defining moment of that World Cup final, and also of Lloyd's spectacular 2015.
Lloyd earned a hat trick. In a World Cup final. In 16 minutes. From the middle of the pitch:
Japan pulled back two — one of them an own-goal from Julie Johnston — but they never really looked capable of waging the comeback they needed. Here are the full match highlights:
The whistle blew for a 5-2 score in favor of the U.S. and the rest was history:
Champions. pic.twitter.com/secWNrqDXC
— Caitlin Murray (@caitlinmurr) July 6, 2015
Amazingly, Lloyd told reporters afterward that she envisioned scoring four goals in the final. She fell one goal-short. American fans surely didn't mind.
History had been made. For the first time since 1999, the U.S. were World Cup champions again.
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