U.S. Women Capture World Soccer Cup Title

For as good as she felt about her team's state of mind and play entering Sunday's final, even U.S. coach Jill Ellis wouldn't have been so bold as to predict five goals.

Frankly, it was at least as much as her back line deserved after a month of carrying the load.

The U.S. women beat Japan 5-2 to win their first World Cup title in 16 years on Sunday, and it didn't matter that, for the first time all tournament, the United States allowed multiple goals in a game. The math there isn't difficult to do because the team had allowed just one goal in its first six games, that by Australia's Lisa De Vanna early in the first half of the opening game.

After the 3-1 win against Australia -- Hope Solo's work in goal was the major reason Australia didn't score more -- the U.S. defense posted five consecutive clean sheets as the back line of outside backs Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger and center backs Julie Johnston and Becky Sauerbrunn dominated. The work include one scoreless draw and a pair of 1-0 wins, games in which any slip by the defense might have cost the United States points or even its very place in the tournament.

A goal from Japan's Yuki Ogimi on Sunday that cut the deficit to 4-1 in the 27th minute ended the shutout streak at 539 minutes. The United States finished well short of the record for overall such streak, held by Germany at 679 minutes spanning three tournaments, but the Americans came within eight seconds of matching the arguably more relevant record for a single tournament that Germany set en route to a title in China in 2007.