By JOSEPH WHITE
AP Sports Writer
WEMBLEY, England (AP) -
Hope Solo found herself enveloped in a group hug at the final whistle.
Abby Wambach ran to join the fun in a celebration that unleashed a year
of bottled-up frustration.
The U.S. women's soccer
team won its third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan
2-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and avenging the most
painful loss in its history.
Carli Lloyd scored early in
both halves, Solo leaped and dived to make saves, and the entire roster
found the redemption it had been seeking since that penalty kick
shootout loss in Germany last summer.
Before 80,203 at Wembley
Stadium, a record crowd for a women's soccer game at the Olympics, the
teams put on a back-and-forth, don't-turn-your-head soccer showcase,
proving again that these are the two premier teams in the world. Women's
soccer is still in its formative stages in Britain, but the match
proved more than worthy for the hallowed grounds of the beautiful game.
And the Japanese perhaps
played just as beautifully as the Americans, using their speed and
discipline to dominate possession and scoring chances for long stretches
before finally cutting a 2-0 deficit in half with about a half-hour to
go.
Back home, America was
paying attention - just as it was last year and despite the rest of the
Olympic events. Even President Barack Obama, during a campaign speech at
Colorado College during the second half of the game, noted that, "The
women are doing pretty good right now in soccer."
Lloyd's goals came in
eighth and 54th minutes, making it four goals in the tournament for the
midfielder who lost her long-held starting job weeks before the
Olympics. She got back on the pitch when Shannon Boxx injured her
hamstring in the opening game and started every game since.
Yuki Ogimi answered in the
63rd minute, and Asuna Tanaka nearly had the equalizer in the 83rd -
only to be thwarted when Solo flung her entire body to the left to push
the ball away.
The U.S. team has won four
of the five Olympic titles since women's soccer was introduced at the
1996 Atlanta Games, settling for mere silver at the 2000 Games in
Sydney.
In the first half, Japan
was unfortunate not to have a penalty kick awarded for a clear hand ball
by U.S. midfielder Tobin Heath, who stuck out her left arm to stop a
free kick inside the area.
Japan also had two shots
hit the crossbar, one off the left hand of a leaping Solo, who was kept
consistently busy for the first time this tournament. The closest the
U.S. came to doubling the lead in the first 45 minutes came when Azusa
Iwashimizu attempted to clear a routine ball played in front of the net -
and headed it off the post.
The U.S. goal in the eighth
minute began with a run by Heath down the left side. She fed Alex
Morgan, who settled the ball near the goal line, spun and chipped it
toward Wambach. Wambach raised her left foot for the shot, but Lloyd
charged in and got to it first, her strong running header beating
goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto from 6 yards out.
Lloyd extended the lead
with a 20-yard right-footer just inside the left post after a long run
with the ball through the middle of the Japanese defense.
Ogimi soon cut the deficit
to one after a mad scramble in front of the net. Captain Christie
Rampone saved a shot off the line, but the ball went to Homare Sawa, who
fed Ogimi for the tap-in.
Another scramble followed
after U.S. defender Amy LePeilbet saved yet another shot off the line in
the 74th minute, but this time her teammates were able to corral the
ball before a Japanese player could pounce on it.
Boxx was back into the
starting lineup after the missing four games with the hamstring injury.
Lauren Cheney, who injured an ankle in the semifinals, began the game on
the bench for the first time this tournament.
Canada won the bronze earlier Thursday, beating France 1-0 at Coventry.
___
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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