LLOYD OOZES CLUTCH PLAY
Hat trick in triumphant final latest on long list of exploits for U.S. captain
VANCOUVER There are psychologists in the sports world who believe the concept of a clutch player is nothing more than a convenient fabrication.
They must curse Carli Lloyd.
The theory of those mental medics is that if an athlete has a reputation of coming up with big plays in big moments it has more to do with fortune and coincidence than an innate ability to withstand pressure better than others.
Over the course of 16 minutes Sunday, Lloyd, the U.S. captain, proved, in her case at least, such claims are utter nonsense. With three goals in rapid succession she blew open the Women’s World Cup final and knocked the stuffing out of Japan.
And, with hindsight, the only surprise is we could have been surprised.
Because up in that rare air, those moments of ecstasy that are the reward for game-changing achievement on the grandest stages of all, Lloyd breathes easy.
In the months leading up to the World Cup, Lloyd was training alone one day when she zoned out and started dreaming of playing in the final. Her dream was vivid. It involved her scoring four goals. “Pretty crazy, huh?” Lloyd said less than an hour after the game finished. But for a missed header from close range midway through the first half, it would have come true. This, though, was enough to seal a legacy and write her name in American soccer history once more.
Yet for all the gleeful headshaking and delirious bewilderment that greeted the USA’s exhilarating burst, this wasn’t new ground for Lloyd, it was just more dramatic than usual.
Turn your mind back seven years, and that was Lloyd scoring the only goal of the 2008 Olympic final victory against Brazil in the crunch moments of extra-time. It was her again four years later in London, both goals this time in a 2-1 triumph vs. Japan.
A third time? That’s not a charm, that’s consistency. That’s what Lloyd racked up at BC Place on Sunday. The first goal came after less than three minutes, a result of the fearlessness that has defined Lloyd since she was shifted to a more advanced position midway through the tournament.
When Megan Rapinoe drove in a low corner, Lloyd won the race and smashed the ball into the net.
Two minutes later, there she was again, bundling the ball over the line when a Lauren Holiday free kick had been flicked onward by Julie Johnston.
After Holiday had made it three it was time for Lloyd’s party trick. By then the USA was in full swagger mode. And when she spotted Japan’s goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori out of her goal, Lloyd drilled the ball goal-ward from the halfway line.
Sometimes such things go your way; normally they don’t. This time it did, as Lloyd belted it with maximum force and precision.
Although Japan tried to respond and pulled two goals back before Tobin Heath wrapped it up with the American fifth in the second half, the game was done and the title was won.
Who knows what Lloyd has left in her? The age of 32 is one that can go either way for a profes- sional soccer player, even one at the height of her powers. Another four years are not out of the question.
“We just wrote history today and brought this trophy home,” Lloyd said. “I’ve pushed on my status a little bit, and I have to stay up here.”
Achievement is a reward for effort. Lloyd has a private coach, an insatiable work ethic and a willingness to sacrifice. She told her fiancé and family to stay at home; this was about business.
She struggled through the tough early days of the World Cup, stifled in a holding midfield role and looking totally out of sorts. It seems like an eternity ago. With three complete, devastating performances, Lloyd did enough to comfortably and deservedly win the player of the tournament award. Job done.
What a job. The first hat trick in a Women’s World Cup final. Perhaps the most dominant display ever seen in the women’s tournament. Call it clutch or don’t; it doesn’t really matter. Call it having nerves of steel.
Whatever it is, it is what Lloyd does, what she has within her, and how her legacy will be defined.