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MANAUS, Brazil -- Carli Lloyd is in her element.Known for making the most of big moments, the FIFA Womens World Player of the Year has picked up right where she left off when she scored a hat trick in the World Cup final last summer.Lloyd has scored a goal in each of the U.S. teams first two matches to open the Olympics, helping the Americans advance to the quarterfinals. Theyll play one more opening stage match on Tuesday against Colombia for position heading into the knockout round.I havent had a ton of chances in these games, but the chances I have had, Ive been ready, Lloyd said. Ive spent the last four years in front of the net just hammering away and shooting. And just kind of becoming a sniper in front goal.The United States, ranked No. 1 in the world, is vying for its fourth straight gold medal and fifth overall in the six Olympics since the womens game was added to the Games. The only other team to win gold was Norway in 2000 in Sydney.The Rio Games is Lloyds third Olympics. The first two helped establish her clutch reputation.At Beijing in 2008, she scored in overtime for a 1-0 victory against Brazil in the final.She was benched before the 2012 London Games by then-coach Pia Sundhage, who liked the combination of Shannon Boxx and Lauren Holiday in the central midfielder position. The demotion didnt last long, however, because Boxx was injured in the opener.Lloyd started the rest of the way and scored both goals in the gold-medal match against Japan.Shes the only player to score winning goals in consecutive Olympic finals. With two goals in Brazil, shes also the only American player to score multiple goals in three Olympics.Lloyd has eight career Olympic goals, second among Americans to Abby Wambach, who collected 10 before her retirement last year. Overall, Lloyd has 90 career goals.Of course, Lloyd is best known for the World Cup final last year in Canada when she scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of the final against Japan. The United States won the game 5-2 for its third overall World Cup title.She has been able to find success in the big international tournaments because of her renowned focus and playmaking ability, but also because of her conditioning -- when other players are fatigued after the grind of several matches in a short period of time, Lloyd is still fresh.Lloyd was sidelined for some 10 weeks earlier this year after she sprained her right knee in late April during a match for her club team, the Houston Dash.But she has looked in peak condition in Brazil. She scored within the first nine minutes in a 2-0 victory over New Zealand in the opener, and then scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over third-ranked France.True to form, Lloyd was already looking ahead shortly after the win against France.The thing about this tournament is you cant dwell on anything too long, she said. Youve got to move on and focus on whats next.The matches Tuesday in Manaus, in the countrys Amazon region, are already sold out. The other is between host Brazil -- with superstar Marta -- and South Africa. Brazil has also advanced already to the quarterfinals, along with Canada.Colombia has already been eliminated. On Monday, coach Fabian Taborda said one of the teams top players, Catalina Usme, had an injured left knee. Lady Andrade and Carolina Arias are suffering exhaustion.Theres no way to know if Tabordas comments were simply gamesmanship.In the other matches on Tuesday: Australia plays Zimbabwe and New Zealand plays France in Salvador. Second-ranked Germany plays Canada and China plays Sweden in Brasilia. The Olympic tournament is being held in stadiums across the country. Ultra Boost Clearance Sale . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Adidas Ultra Boost Clearance . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. http://www.wholesaleultraboost.com/ . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. Buy Adidas Ultra Boost .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Cheap Ultra Boost Womens . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Have you heard of Buccis Overtime Challenge? Well, this is Buccis Hat Trick Challenge. Whats the challenge part? Regularly coming up with three hits about the World Cup of Hockey. Wednesdays games are Team North America versus Team?Sweden?(3 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Team Europe versus Team Canada (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).1. Why Team USA never had a chance against Canada: While sitting high above the Air Canada Centre ice here in Toronto on Tuesday night, I watched as Team USA was, ironically, melting on the ice below. It was like an ice cream cone on a humid day. You cant really tell that its getting soft at first. Then suddenly it pours over the side and onto your fingers. Do you lick it? Do you run and wash it off? Or do you just sit here, with a dazed, defeated?look of confusion, and let the wet ice cream dry on you?Hockey is hard. And playing hockey against Canada, in Canada, is the hardest. The Canadians had a 90 percent chance to win the World Cup when the rosters were announced. Sweden, Team North America and maybe Russia were the only others teams in the field with a real chance.The over/under on Hall of Famers on this years Canada roster is about nine. No other country can approach that. I went back and quickly looked at the 1996 World Cup rosters. Canadas number for that team was 11 Hall of Famers. I think the number of Hall of Famers on the 96 U.S. roster will end up being seven, so you can see how Team USA had at least a chance. Yet, it was still such an upset for the Americans to win two games in Montreal as slight underdogs. This years USA roster might have two future Hall of Famers. So thats Canada 9, United States 2. That is too big of a disparity to overcome. That explains the outcome in the most simple way.2. Kessel could have helped:?Pittsburgh Penguins?right winger?Phil Kessel (who was tied for 45th in NHL scoring last season) is probably not going to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. But given his speed and the fact that hes always a threat to score, Kessel should have been on Team USAs roster.In some ways, Kessel is the NHLs version of the Cleveland Cavaliers J.R. Smith. Hes kind of out there, unique, unintentionally funny, does his own kind of thing. But he has the kind of talent that can help you beat other talented teams. You deal with his limitations (bad shots, in Smiths case; no body checking by Kessel) and hope that he picks up his defensive intensity with that speed he has. Both players did that last spring for their respective teams -- and both the Pens and Cavs won titles they would not have won without Smith and Kessel.In the end, its like when you picked sides on the playground or gym class when you were a kid. In most cases, you knew which team was the best right away. Occasionally, a team with slightly less talent -- like, say, the U.S. team that won the 1996 World Cup -- could win with great individual efforts (like Mike Richters in 96) and a collective push. If the disparity got too big, however, the more talented and skillful woould win 99 percent of the time, as long as they tried and didnt scream at each other.ddddddddddddComing off his Stanley Cup playoffs performance, Kessel was an obvious World Cup choice who, in retrospect, might have been able to Team USA that extra individual effort. His tweet Tuesday night was pure Kessel snark at its finest:What a year for Phil! He won a Stanley Cup, then body-slammed a USA Hockey organization that many feel needs to be dredged and refocused. And he produced a funny and poignant tweet that got more action and traction than did the commentary of many of the writers whom he despises. Give Phil a Pulitzer, too.3. But help is on the way for the USA: Team North America was a great idea, and I love it, but it hurt Team USA. Six or seven American players on Team North America -- which was limited to players 23 or younger -- would have made Team USA had they been eligible. The U.S. does not have the depth of Canada, so the U-23 team hurt them even more than not getting Connor McDavid?hurt Canada.So, not only will the USA have the youngsters for best-on-best events in the future, but more are coming.This current crop of young, U.S.-born players includes some great kids. But they need a person -- and group of people -- to guide them and mold them. Pat Lafontaine, Chris Drury, Jerry York, David Quinn, Nate Leaman, Don Granato, Jon Cooper, Peter Laviolette and many more talented/competitive hockey minds are out there and ready to either lead or contribute to a new day, to be part of a Continental Congress of USA Hockey that will create a road map and one-page outline. Not as a reaction or overreaction to what happened Tuesday night against Canada, but to take an honest assessment and capitalize on the positives, create optimism and instill a culture of selflessness and commitment to the cause.The young Americans are great players. They need a captain to set the tone so USA Hockey can start building a consistent tradition and not just rely on these lightning-storm moments of 1980 and 1996. The foundation is there. It can be done. The USA is winning lots of international hockey events with teenagers. It should continue as they become NHL players.Hockey is expensive, and the challenge of the sport is to keep it from becoming elitist -- either in who it attracts and/or how it molds people into that type of destructive, introverted, tired, selfish thinking. Some passionate people at USA Hockey are fighting for change and are doing good work. But, overall, the organization has a tired, elitist feel to it. Everyone goes to their own room and the kids are all staring at their phones.Team Canada feels like a local youth hockey weekend tournament, where some of the parents get a little carried away but everybody is at the same hotel bar and the kids are all playing knee hockey in the hallway. Everyone is all in. And its fun. ' ' '