VANCOUVER, Canada — While the U.S. is using its loss to Japan in the last Women's World Cup final as motivation heading into Sunday's rematch, the Japanese are rallying around an even fresher result.
Three years ago the U.S. beat Japan, 2-1, in the gold-medal game of the London Olympics.
"I never forgot the day we played the final in the Olympics" in 2012, captain Aya Miyama, one of more than a dozen Japanese players who will have been in uniform for all three finals, said through an interpreter Saturday.