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Set-piece surprises pay off for Americans

By Simon Evans VANCOUVER (Reuters) - The 2015 Women's World Cup final will be defined by American Carli Lloyd's outrageous goal from the half-way line but it was two early set piece strikes devised on the training ground that left Japan on the ropes in the blink of an eye. Lloyd arrived late to finish off both moves inside the opening five minutes to capitalise on Japan's defensive disarray and put the U.S. well on course for a thumping 5-2 victory. The third minute opener was a brilliantly executed corner, with Megan Rapinoe driving a low ball diagonally across the penalty area and Lloyd timing her run to perfection, meeting the cross with a deft shot with the outside of her left foot. Two minutes later, Lauren Holiday hit another low ball from a free-kick across the face of the goal, Julie Johnston flicked it on and Japan's defence stumbled once more as a gleeful Lloyd doubled the lead. The use of unusually low struck crosses clearly confounded a Japan team used to opponent's trying to exploit their lack of height with lofted balls into the box. "They tried new things and set plays that we hadn't seen before in the tournament, and we didn't handle it well. They repeated that twice... we couldn't handle well for those set plays," Japan forward Yuki Ogimi told reporters. The effectiveness of the approach was even more impressive given the Americans had only introduced the idea the day before the game. "The set pieces, honestly we practiced those starting yesterday and they came together fantastically. It couldn't have been better," American striker Alex Morgan said. U.S. coach Jill Ellis gave credit to her assistants for the surprise routines. "I have to give some props to my staff. Tony Gustavsson took over set-pieces and he is brilliant at them, really breaks them down," she said. "It is something we focused on, worked on a lot. Every game we have a slightly different wrinkle on them today but they executed perfectly." (Additional reporting by Julie Gordon; Editing by John O'Brien)