Call her Clutch Carli. Or Cold-Blooded Carli. By this weeke🔥nd, you 🍷might have to call her World Cup champion Carli Lloyd.
The Uni🦩ted States’ central midfielder always has had her best moments in the biggest moments, and Tuesday s♉he dominated the world’s top-ranked team. The veteran Jersey girl had a goal and an assist in the Americans’ 2-0 win over Germany, sending them into Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final.
“It’s a dream come true. This is what we’re training for, the blood, sweat and tears are for. This is a𓄧 great game,’’ Lloyd said in a postgame television interview. “But my eyes are on the final.’’
Lloyd, a Delran (NJ) native and Rutgers product, is wired for winning — scoring the winning goals in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic final, and making a strong case to be named FIFA Women’s World Cup MVP. And none of her family members was there to see it. But more on tha🗹t later.
She has three goals and an assist in her past three games. None was more impressive than Tuesday, facing a German team that was ranked No. 1 in the world, favored to wi𓆏n the tourney and had allowed just five goals coming in. That is, until Lloyd went into beast mode.
The US attack had been stagnant the entire tournament, but with coach Jill Ellis scrapping the 4-4-2 for ওa 4-3-3 — one that played like a 4-2-3-1 with Alex Morgan as a lone striker, and Morgan Brian and Lauren Holiday lying deep in midfield — Lloyd had what she’s wanted: the keys to the attack and a license to roam.
The last two games, Ellis’ tactical moves have allowed Lloyd to play like the No. 10 on her jersey, the creative force that drives her teꦓam and drives other teams cra💝zy.
She followed her sterling quarterfinals game with an even better semi. After watching Germany shank a penalty kick, Lloyd stepped up and calmly showed how it’s done with a perfectly placed minute strike. Then she dribbled her way through the backline and set up Kelley O’Hara for the insurance goal. And as artistic as the move was, it wasn’t as much born from inspiration♛ as perspiration, the result of hours of work on the soccer fields of New Jersey.
“I just wanted to help. I kne꧑w what I had to do,’’ Lloyd said. “The more weಞ knocked it around, the better it was. Just keep your foot on the pedal.’’
And the throat. Rutgers’ all-time leader in goals and points always has been, well, on-point. She repeatedly has talked about how this tournament was a quest for the first US World Cup title since 1999, and was all꧅-business.
Lloyd doesn’t do drama or distractions, staying focused to the point that she told her fiancé (PGA golf pro Brian Hollins) and her family to stay away from the World Cup. They weren’t there to see her knock off the top-ranked team in the world, and if form holds, they won’t be there to see her hoist a World❀ Cup on Sunday, which would be a record third for the US.
But if form holds, it likely will be Lloyd who leads them thꦺere.
Or make that Clutch Carli.
Keys to victory
Here are the keys to how the US prevailed over Germany, 2-0, in a battle of the world’s top two teams in Tuesday’s Women’s World Cup semifinal:
The US got smart: Sure, its defense is riding a 513-minute scoreless streak that’s just 28 shy of the World Cup record. But coach Jill Eꦰllis finally went with a 4-3-3 and, against a German team that had allowed just five goals, the offense had its best effort in years. They had possession in midfield, moved off the ball, passing in triangles, pushing the attack. That’s the US team ev𒁃erybody wanted to see.
The US got lucky: First Julie Johnston got away with a yellow card on a foul in the box that easily could’ve been a red. Then German Celia Sasic missed the ensuing penalty after she already had hit two this tourney and Germany was 12-for-12 all-time. Finally, they 🎃were awarded a penalty kick after Alex Morgan tumbled over a defender just outside the box. Karmic payback for Torsten Frings’ 2002 handball?
The US took advantage: Keeper Hope Solo stalled, stared, iced and used the Jedi Mind Trick on Sasic. The German appeared rattled, looking away and missing the entire frame. J🦂ohnston, in tears on the field, bucked up and played well. And Jersey girl Carli Lloyd showed ho🏅w to bury a penalty kick.