Women's World Cup: USA beat Germany 2-0 to reach the final

MontrealAn inspired performance from Carli Lloyd lifted the United States into their second straight Womens World Cup final with a 20 win over topranked Germany on Tuesday In a battle between the worlds top two teams the United States largely dominated in front of 51000 largely US supporters at Montreals Olympic Stadium In a dramatic second half Germanys Celia Sasic missed a penalty kick on 60 minutes before Lloyd opened nine minutes later from the spot with defender Kelley OHara sealing victory with her firstever goal for the Americans six minutes from timeUSA vs Germany at Womens World Cup Pic AFP I came here to win this thing not just be a participant that played in a World Cup warned the 32yearold Lloyd who was wearing the captains armband Its a good feeling Ive a really confident feeling in us winning it The United States winners in 1991 and 1999 and ranked second in the world will play either defending champions Japan or England for the title in Vancouver on July 5 Japan beat the Americans in a dramatic penalty shootout to take the title four years ago Were in a World Cup final one opponent stands in our way and for me it doesnt matter who it is said US coach Jill Ellis Well take either England or Japan That sounds arrogant The Americans dominated the first half with forward Alex Morgan having the best chance to open but Nadine Angerer held firm in the Germany goal A second effort from Morgan from close range also failed to find the target Not dangerous enough After the break Germanys Anja Mittag headed wide but on the hour mark the European champions had a golden chance when US defender Julie Johnston pulled down Alexandra Popp as the midfielder slipped in on the blindside Sasic the tournaments top scorer with six goals send the shot low and just wide of Hope Solo in the US goal to tears of relief from a distraught JohnstonThe Americans were then awarded a contested penalty when Morgan was brought down by defender Annike Krahn in a tackle that looked outside 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 Angerer dived the opposite way The USAs alltime leading goalscorer Abby Wambach came on 10 minutes from time in place of Megan RapinoeAnd minutes later Lloyd pulled clear of her marker to run down the field crossing to OHara who entered in the 75th minute OHara fired in the winner from close range dumping former twotime winners Germany It was clearly outside of the area and it can be seen quite clearly on television said Germany coach Silvia Neid of the penalty awarded against themIm very sad about it but I cant change it Germany had been bidding for a record third title and to match their mens team who won the World Cup in Brazil last year It was a great semifinal between two very strong teams at high level Unfortunately we were not dangerous enough when it came to the goal area and congratulations to the United States said Neid who had a role in both Germanys titles in 2003 and 2007Germany next prepare for the thirdplace playoff in Edmonton on Saturday Were going to have to support Celia Neid added She shot two penalties against France Today she missed That type of thing happens in sport She will have gotten over that by SaturdayIt was the fourth World Cup meeting between the two superpowers the Americans won 52 in 1991 and 32 in 1999 with Germany winning 30 in 2003 and each time the winner went on to take the title Japan and England play their semifinal in Edmonton on Wednesday