Opinion: Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe are game-changers again, possibly one last time

KASHIMA, Japan — For the better part of an hour, the years fell away from Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd.

Knowing this might be their last Olympic game, maybe their last game at any major international tournament, they played with the fierce abandon that the entire USWNT has been missing. Showing the kind of opportunism that has long made them two of the most feared players in the world with two goals apiece, they gave the Americans their swagger back.

The U.S. women are leaving the Tokyo Olympics with a medal thanks to two goals apiece from Rapinoe and Lloyd on Friday night. A bronze wasn’t what they were seeking when they arrived for the Tokyo Games, but it means the Americans have won a medal at all but one World Cup and Olympics.