The United States soccer team put on a clinic Sunday night, as it routed Japan 5-2 to win the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Team USA scored two goals within three minutes, and was ahead 4-1 at halftime. While Japan did ultimately score two goals on the previously unstoppable American defense, it was never even close to being enough to compete with the U.S. team.
World Cup Final – Carli Lloyd’s hat trick
Carli Lloyd had a hat trick in the game, scoring three goals–one of them an impressive shot from the half-field mark.
The game ended up being the highest-scoring final game in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and avenged America’s loss to Japan in the 2011 World Cup.
Thomas Muller (center) notched a hat trick to lead Germany past Portugal. (Getty Images)
FINAL SCORE: Germany 4, Portugal 0
This was one of the most anticipated battles of the opening round of matches. Germany, one of the favorites to win the World Cup, taking on Portugal, led by perhaps the best player in the world in Ronaldo. “The Superpower versus the Superstar,” as ESPN said before the match.
Well, that went out the window very quickly.
Portugal actually looked like the better side for the first 10 minutes or so, getting some chances on the counter with Ronaldo and Nani speeding up the flanks, and the midfielders looking to dispossess Phillipp Lahm and Semi Khedira in the center of the mark. But then Joao Pereira yanked down Mario Gotze inside the box, leading to a penalty call from the referee. Thomas Muller buried it from the spot.
Three units on a football team; Offense, Defense, and Special Teams
Three ways of advancing a football; run, kick and pass
Three points for a field goal
In the football league the team that wins the game gets three points
In football you are allowed to call only 3 timeouts during each half of the game
Football’s 3-point stance
England football association – three lions crest
Threes in European Football
Three football teams in Glasgow – Celtic, Rangers & Partick Thistle
Three lions on an England football shirt (sorry, soccer shirt)
Three lines: Forwards, Halfback, Fullback
“Three Lions” was the official song of the England football team for the 1996 European Championships, which were held in England. The music was written by The Lightning Seeds, with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner providing the lyrics. The song was a much bigger success than most football songs, capturing the Zeitgeist perfectly.
Three Lions Footballs-Coming Home Official Video
The lyrics spoke not of unbounded optimism for victory, but instead told of how, ever since 1966 and the one unequivocal success of the English football team, every tournament has ended in dashed hopes and the feeling that England will never again reach those heights (“Three Lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming Thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming”).
The song’s intro included samples of pessimism from football commentators Alan Hansen (“I think it’s bad news for the English game”), Trevor Brooking (“We’re not creative enough; we’re not positive enough”), and Jimmy Hill (“We’ll go on getting bad results”).
Despite the failures of the past, each tournament is greeted with fresh hopes that this might be the year they do it again, and the song’s exuberant chorus proclaimed that “It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, football’s coming home”.
