No one expected THAT

When I wrote before the final match of the 2015 Women's World Cup, I said that the team that made the least mistakes would win.

I didn't expect Japan to be the team that made the most mistakes. I didn't really predict, but I thought, against the biased beating of my patriotic heart, that they were the most likely winner.

But they got forced into mistakes early, and that meant mistakes. And that meant goals. And that meant a relatively easy win and World Cup trophy for the USA women.

Much has already been made, and more will be made, about Carli Lloyd, who scored the hat trick, which as a third goal had a half-field strike that went over the goalkeeper's head and desperately extended hand as she tripped. As amazing as the shot was, it succeeded due to a mistake, the goalkeeper being out too far as the USA attacked quickly at midfield after a takeaway (a mistake).

A goalkeeper mistake again, a poor clearance, led to the final goal from Tobin Heath A bad header by a defender, another mistake (we had one of those, too, for one of the two Japanese scores) led to Lauren Holliday's volley for the game's third goal.

The two-set piece goals by Lloyd were opportunistic, but it can be pointed out that set pieces result from defensive errors or breakdowns.

So the normally low-mistake Japanese women made a lot of them, probably due to a combination of final match nerves, the raucously loud pro-USA crowd, and an energized attack fueled by the crowd and the desire of the team to amend for the 2011 defeat.

So, capitalizing on a lot of unexpected mistakes, the USA women got what they deserved.

The Cup.