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U.S. still haunted by World Cup loss to Japan in 2011

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A massive throng of reporters and cameras crowded into a downtown hotel ballroom here on Friday as the U.S. women's soccer team held court ahead of Sunday's World Cup final showdown with Japan.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A massive throng of reporters and cameras crowded into a downtown hotel ballroom here on Friday as the U.S. women's soccer team held court ahead of Sunday's World Cup final showdown with Japan.

It's the third straight major tournament in which the two nations have reached the championship game, following the 2011 World Cup and the 2012 Olympics. Japan won the first of those meetings, and the United States the second.

As the American players met reporters, there were no questions about breaking the tie. Instead, they were all about revenge, because the World Cup is the far more prestigious event.

Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach, the two players who alternate as team captain, knew what was coming, and they were ready.

"I really don't like the word revenge or redemption," Lloyd said. "It's a new World Cup. It's a different team than four years prior, it's a different situation - it's just another World Cup final match that happens to be against Japan."

Wambach, who is never short of energetic quotes in front of a microphone, said "it's not about revenge or avenging that loss."

It was all very polite, to no one's surprise. But ultimately, Wambach admitted what everyone in the room suspected: that loss to Japan four years ago has been driving the team ever since it happened.

"For me, it's a constant reminder and it's been a constant reminder since July 17, 2011," Wambach said, pointedly referencing the date of that World Cup final. "It's kind of been that thing within us that fuels our fire. It's always there, and that's what happens in heartbreak."

Some of the characters have changed in the cast since that meeting in Germany four years ago, but this much remains true: Japan's skill and ball possession will pose a massive test. Not for nothing are the Nadeshiko the only team that has won every game it has played at this World Cup.

"We have to play good soccer, because the Japanese are an organized, techincal team," Wambach said. "They, like you saw in 2011, are not going to give up until that last whistle blows."

The Americans are playing pretty good soccer themselves at the moment. It took them a while to get there, but the 2-0 semifinal win over Germany sent a serious message.

Wambach, Lloyd and many of their teammates have said throughout the tournament that playing in a World Cup provides a full measure of motivation in and of itself. But from the moment the draw was held in December, women's soccer fans across the globe have been waiting for exactly this matchup. The revenge angle is a major reason why.

Now the game is almost here. And from what we've seen this summer, it's likely to be the best episode yet of what has become a series for the soccer history books.