BY: NICK GERHARDT

ANCHOR: ANTHONY MARTINEZ

 

 

You're watching multisource sports video news analysis from Newsy. 

 

The third time's a charm. Can the women of Team USA make history? No squad has ever won the World Cup title three times, and they'll have to go through a surprising Japanese team to be the first.

 

Fox Sports says, the Americans have an advantage--at least in stature.

 

"I really think you need to look at the height difference from the start. We've got Abby Wambach playing up top, and she is known for her heading ability. She's been getting on the end of a lot of things over tall teams. Here against Japan, a much shorter team. I think we're going to see one or two Abby Wambach header goals this game."

 

But what the Japanese side lacks in body, they make up for in discipline, says SI's Grant Wahl.

 

"Japan is a team that has a lot of skill. They pass the ball very well with short passes, a very different team from the US which relies more on athleticism, speed and size.”

 

NFL fans: remember the Saints of Super Bowl XLIV? Representing an area ravaged by a natural disaster, that team carried New Orleans to its first championship. Japan brings a similar competitive advantage to the pitch--The New York Times explains

 

“Stirred in part by the photographs, Japan stunned Germany, 1-0, displaying not only the graceful and crafty passing that is its trademark but also newfound grit against the taller, bigger German team. It is the same type of buoyancy that New Orleans experienced as the Saints reached the Super Bowl in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.”

 

While youth has carried Japan to the final, the Americans boast the oldest squad of the field, according to Yahoo! Sports. 

 

That puts coach Pia Sundhage's personnel decisions under the microscope. ABC's Christine Brennan says no one has ever done it better.

 

"The coach, PIa Sundhage, is Swedish, she's not an American, and she has done a terrific job--maybe more than any other American coach ever in the history of US Women's Soccer--to make this a team. Even though there clearly are some superstars, it's all about all of them out there, and I think you're seeing that, especially with Rapinoe."

 

Among those superstars--goalkeeper Hope Solo. When these two sides met this year, she was the difference, says Yahoo! Sports.

 

"Japan and the USA have met three times in 2011. … The difference in those previous matches this year was goalkeeping. Hope Solo recorded clean sheets in both matches she played in while Ayumi Kaihori was scored on twice in each of the two games she played.

 

Solo, Rapinoe, Wambach, and the rest of the squad take to the pitch at 2:45 ET.

 

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Transcript by Newsy.