USWNT face Japan in the World Cup final live thread

Japan and the US have both been two of the best teams in the world the last few years and have split the major championships. Japan won the 2011 World Cup, the US won the 2012 Olympics and tonight they meet for the third straight time in a major competition.

The US goes for their third star and Japan their second as these two familiar foes face off in the final.

Japan had an easier group and made it to the final on a dramatic England own goal while the United States started slowly but got stronger throughout the tournament.

Head coach Jill Ellis has been criticized for her roster selection, her line ups, formations and just about everything else but has the chance to silence her critics (for a little while) with a win tonight.

Match date/time: Sunday, 6 p.m. CT

Venue: BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

TV: FOX (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish), CTV, RDS, TSN (Canada), BBC Three (U.K.), NHK (Japan)

Online: FOX Soccer 2 Go (U.S. - English), NBC Deportes en vivo extra (U.S. - Spanish), TSN (Canada), BBC Player (U.K.)

Watch Party: Power and Light in Kansas City

Lineups:

#USA XI: Solo, Sauerbrunn, Lloyd (C), Krieger, Holiday, Morgan, Brian, Rapinoe, Heath, Johnston, Klingenberg pic.twitter.com/Hbvm3FerNl

— FIFA Women'sWorldCup (@FIFAWWC) July 5, 2015

#JPN XI: Kaihori, Iwashimizu, Kumagai, Sameshima, Sakaguchi, Miyama (C), Kawasumi, Ohno, Utsugi, Ogimi, Ariyoshi pic.twitter.com/AcDOvb5BrI

— FIFA Women'sWorldCup (@FIFAWWC) July 5, 2015

Update: 4-0

Three goals by Carli LLoyd and one from Lauren Holiday, a dream start for the US!

The Four fastest goals:

#USA score 4 fastest goals in #FIFAWWCFinal history. #JPN concede more goals than they have for entire tournament. pic.twitter.com/8SudNNgpXG

— FIFA Women'sWorldCup (@FIFAWWC) July 5, 2015