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Lloyd is no spring chicken anymore. I wish Coach Ellis would stick to the plan of using her as a second half substitute. All it takes is to be a little bit winded to miss the penalty as close as Lloyd did in the second half. So not only herself to blame but coach Ellis also imo.

Soccer-Entire U.S. squad hungry and ready, says coach Ellis

The United States' squad is more motivated than ever, coach Jill Ellis said on Sunday after making seven changes in the 3-0 win against Chile in the women's World Cup to give her fringe players an opportunity to get rid of any tournament nerves.

The defending champions thrashed Thailand 13-0 in their opening Group F match, but with the demanding schedule in mind, Ellis opted to drop key players like Alex Morgan, who had fired five goals in that game, to boost the team's overall morale.

I think today's lineup was a long term bench management call. Ellis has now played everyone, other than the backup goalkeepers. Eight different players have scored. Christen Press and Jessica McDonald haven't scored, but they've at least had some good shots and a couple of balls off the post. Team psychology can be tricky. All these women are professionals and they all want to win, but it would still be a bummer to make a World Cup team and sit on the bench for a month without ever getting into a game. You also don't want to have to bring someone into a tough game against a peer level team, maybe in a backs to the wall situation, who hasn't played. Ellis got a lot of the potential yinyangs out of the way today.

The U.S. team has depth, but today's starting lineup also was a reminder of why Tobin Heath and Megan Rapinoe are special players. Neither played today, and it showed. Having them both out there together is awesome. Ali Krieger helped her cause. Sam Mewes has earned more playing time as well; her absence today was noticeable. The team that played today was not nearly as sharp as the team that played Thailand, even adjusting for the strength of the opponent.