It was a great day for soccer in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, especially for USWNT’s attacking midfielder, Carli Lloyd.

“I can remember that day vividly. I remember waking up the night before multiple times, finding my brain and my mind thinking about the World Cup final, thinking about winning,” Lloyd said after the game. Boy, did she win, with her team and personally.

Lloyd, as she described vividly in her memoir When Nobody Was Watching (2016), has always had a goal she shared with her trainer, James Galanis, to be the “best player in the world.” Lloyd was originally kicked off the USA’s Under-21 Women’s National Team for being completely unfit.

“I simply can’t put you on the roster,” her coach told her. After this, Lloyd wrote that she was completely done with soccer.

“Done done.” 

But shortly after, after cooling down a bit, Lloyd connected with her trainer, James Galanis. She then grew her reputation for being an extremely hard worker, being extremely tough, and never giving up. Galanis gave her small goals to reach for, like being the strongest and fittest player, and then they connected them into the big goal: to be the world’s greatest soccer player in the next decade.

“Fitness, defending, the mental stuff - those were all weaknesses of mine. And I turned those into strengths,” Lloyd commented on her training.

This 2015 World Cup Final is where Lloyd finally achieved her goal, as she believes.

“It's those moments when everything is on the line, and someone needs to show up in a big moment. I prepare my mind and I prepare my body to be ready for those moments. And I think it's just what I do. I live for those moments,” she said.

Japan, the USWNT’s opponent in this vital final, was given kickoff, but the USA defended and transitioned into an attack, eventually earning themselves a corner in the third minute. Megan Rapinoe took it, sending the ball on the ground to find Lloyd, clearly the target, rushing in. She was given way too much space and finished the ball into the corner of the net.

It was the third minute of the World Cup Final, and the USA was ahead 1-0 against Japan, whom they had lost to in the 2011 World Cup Final on Penalty Kicks.

Only two minutes later, a foul on Tobin Heath on the wing awarded the US a free kick, which was taken by Lauren Holiday. Her free kick weaved through several Japanese defenders and USA players to Carli Lloyd, who volleyed the ball through a defender’s legs and past Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori into the goal. 

Five minutes into the World Cup Final, and the USA was already winning 2-0, and both goals were scored by Carli Lloyd. It was a record. One created by the striving-to-be best player in the world.

Less than ten minutes later, Lauren Holiday for the USWNT impressively volleyed in a poorly cleared ball by a Japanese defender, making it 3-0.

In the sixteenth minute, Carli Lloyd stole the spotlight again. She intercepted a pass between Japanese players, touched past another one, and ripped a shot that she had practiced for years with her trainer just past the half-line. As Lloyd explained in her memoir, she had noticed that Japan’s goalkeeper Kaihori was off her line. Kaihori struggled to get back, and got a finger on the ball, but it did nothing to stop it. It bounced into the left corner of the goal. 

And Lloyd, with a hat trick in less than 13 minutes in a World Cup Final, and a goal from almost half of the field, had officially secured her role as the best player in the world, especially with the roar of cheering and jumping USA fans. A commenter of the game called the number and noise level of the fans “the fifty-first state in the USA”.

“It was like nothing else around me was penetrating,” Lloyd told CNN after the game. “It was me, the field, my teammates, the ball, and that was all I was thinking about. That’s what happens when you are in that flow state – just being in that moment. A lot of good things happen when you’re in that space.”
But there was still a lot of the game left to play. And Japan attempted a comeback after a poor clearance from defender Julie Ertz (neè Johnston) and another goal from Yuki Ogimi, but Tobin Heath scored the USA’s fifth and last goal after a perfectly placed assist from Morgan Brian.
Carli Lloyd in the end played the entire game, captained the USA’s team, dominated the midfield and took many shots, scored an incredible hat-trick, and won Budweiser’s Woman of the Match. In one game. She was the best player in the world.
Not to mention, she, and her team were World Champions, the final score being 5-2, and having dominated most of the game with more shots (and shots on goal), corner kicks and saves.
After the final whistle, Lloyd dropped to her knees and teared up.
As she said later on: “A part of me loves the struggle, and a part of me hates the struggle. But all of me is all about the struggle, because without it, there would be no truly great moments.”