Two of the game's heavyweights will clash for the biggest honor in international football on Sunday. The two sides share a lot of history and this is the third time the two teams will meet in the final of a major tournament in a span of four years.
It was a nervy encounter when the USA and Japan met in the final of the 2011 World Cup. Alex Morgan opened up the scoring for the Americans in the 68th minute in that much but Aya Miyama scored the equalizer with just nine minutes left on the clock.
Abby Wambach 's goal in extra time gave USA the advantage but Homare Sawa scored a spectacular goal to get Japan on level terms once again. The match was thus settled through a penalty shoot out which Japan eventually won.
Carli Lloyd has been one of the team's stand out players in recent games having scored in each of USA's last three games. The 32 year old reflected on the USWNT's loss at the hands of Japan four years back and claimed that her side was determined to make things right.
"It hurts to think about it and talk about it," said U.S. captain Carli Lloyd. "But it is what makes you stronger. It is tough, but it builds character. Now there is nothing I want more than the chance to put it right."
Wambach who got herself on the score sheet in that match wants the players to use the defeat in the final four years back as a source of motivation to do better this time around.
"As a competitor you know in your heart that all the good stuff, none of it counted," said veteran forward Wambach. "How well we had played, how we had fought back from the brink of defeat in the quarterfinal, all the excitement. We lost. We didn't finish the job. We weren't champions."
"I don't want us thinking about Germany," she said. "We will talk. I want us to remember what happened last time and use it as motivation. I want the players who weren't there to know that it's no fun coming out of a final having lost. And I want us to think about what we could have done, those tiny little extra bits of effort that might have made a difference," Wambach added.
After early struggles in the tournament the USWNT has responded strongly, having picked a comfortable win over Germany last time out.
Japan on the other hand benefited from bit of a luck as an own goal scored by England's Laura Bassett proved to be decisive.
USA vs Japan lineups
USWNT's First XI: Solo, Sauerbrunn, Lloyd (C), Krieger, Holiday, Morgan, Brian, Rapinoe, Heath, Johnston, Klingenberg
Japan's First XI: Kaihori, Iwashimizu, Kumagai, Sameshima, Sakaguchi, Miyama (C), Kawasumi, Ohno, Utsugi, Ogimi, Ariyoshi
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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