USA beat Germany, reach Women’s World Cup final

MONTREAL, Canada: Carli Lloyd and Kelley O’Hara both scored in the second half Tuesday to put the United States into the Women’s World Cup final with a 2-0 victory over top-ranked Germany.
Wearing the captain’s armband, Lloyd got the first on 69 minutes from a penalty kick with defender O’Hara scoring her first-ever goal for the Americans six minutes from time.
The United States, winners in 1991 and 1999 and ranked second in the world, will play either defending champions Japan or England in the final at Vancouver on July 5.
Germany’s Celia Sasic, the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, missed a penalty on 60 minutes that was awarded after Julie Johnston pulled down Alexandra Popp in the box.
Sasic send the shot low and just wide of Hope Solo in the US goal.
And six minutes later, Alex Morgan also missed a chance to break the deadlock when she sent the ball just wide of the German goal.
were then awarded a penalty when Morgan was brought down by defender Annike Krahn in the box.
And Lloyd made no mistake, stepping up and sending the ball into the corner of the net for her third goal in as many games as ‘keeper Nadine Angerer dived the opposite way.
The USA’s all-time leading goalscorer, Abby Wambach, came on 10 minutes from time in place of Megan Rapinoe.
And minutes later, Lloyd pulled clear of her marker to run down the field, crossing to O’Hara, who fired in the winner which dumped former two-time winners Germany.
The evening was even more dramatic as Germany’s Celia Sasic — the tournament’s top scorer with six goals — missed a penalty on the hour-mark.
“I think I’ve been taking PKs (penalty kicks) after training for the last seven to eight months,” explained Lloyd.
“Just repetition after repetition. I don’t know what was going on around me. I put the ball down and I knew I had to sink this PK.”
Lloyd was a teenager when she watched the United States win their last title at home in 1999. They won their first in 1991 in China.
“I was a young girl at the time. I remember at Giants Stadium watching the women play, thinking to myself ‘this would be a dream come true to be a part of a team like this’,” said the 32-year-old.
“Never did I think it was really possible, let alone doing it for the last 10 years on this team.
“It’s really an honour and winning a World Cup would be an absolute dream come true.”
European champions Germany had a golden chance when US defender Julie Johnston pulled down Alexandra Popp in the box and was lucky not to see red.
But Sasic send her low spot-kick just wide of the US goal, to tears of relief from Johnston.
Japan and England play their semi-final in Edmonton on Wednesday.