Carli Lloyd scores again to give U.S. a 2-0 lead over Japan

LONDON -- Carli Lloyd scored twice -- once in each half -- to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead over Japan early in the second half of the gold-medal game of the Olympic women’s soccer tournament at Wembley Stadium on Thursday.

Her first goal, in the eighth minute, came on a diving header after Alex Morgan, trapped along the end line, flipped a left-footed pass into the six-yard box for Abby Wambach. But Lloyd ducked in front of Wambach, got her head on the ball and drove it into the net.

Then, nine minutes into the second half, Lloyd gathered the ball at midfield, dribbled more than 30 yards down the center of the pitch, stopped and drove a left-footed shot into the back of the net from just inside the penalty area.

On defense, captain Christie Rampone and goalkeeper Hope Solo helped frustrate the Japanese with two spectacular saves in quick succession early in the first half. Rampone, at 37, the oldest player in the game, got her boot on a shot from Japan’s Nahomi Kawasumi that was headed for an open net. Seconds later Solo made a leaping left-handed save on Yuki Ogimi’s header, deflecting it off the crossbar. Defender Rachel Buehler then cleared the stray ball from the front of the net.

The U.S. might also have gotten some help from German referee Bibiana Steinhaus, who appeared to miss a handball call on Tobin Heath when Aya Miyama’s indirect free kick looked to have struck Heath’s arm in the penalty area midway through the opening half.

Solo stopped Ogimi again in the 33rd minute with a nearly identical one-handed save. Then in the opening seconds of the second half, Solo fisted away another free kick from Miyama just as defender Saki Kumagai dove in from the right side to attempt a header.

All that was bad news for the U.S. defense, which had trouble controlling Ogimi and forward Shinobu Ohno -- who narrowly missed wide right in the 38th minute -- as well as playmaking midfielder Nahomi Kawasumi. All three seemed able to penetrate the Americans’ back line at will. But they just couldn’t finish.

Japan almost gave the U.S. a second goal in the 28th minute when defender Azusa Iwashimizu, trying to clear a ball back to keeper Miho Fukumoto, missed her completely, banking the ball off the goalpost instead.

Then Lloyd nearly doubled the margin just before halftime. But Fukumoto made a sprawling save of her left-footer from the edge of the penalty area.

The U.S. has won three of the four previous Olympic tournaments for women -- including the last two. But Japan took the big prize from the Americans in last summer’s World Cup, twice rallying from deficits before winning the title on penalty kicks.

The U.S. had the best early chance Thursday, with Morgan breaking into the box and getting a left-footed shot on goal in the third minute. But it proved to be an easy save for Fukumoto.

The Japanese, with their precision passing game, might be the more sound team technically. But the U.S. had a substantial advantage in speed and size with Japan starting only two players taller than 5-foot-5 while the Americans started no one shorter than that. And at 5-foot-10, forward Abby Wambach is three inches taller than the biggest Japanese player, Kumagai, one of the players trying to mark her Thursday.

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