WEMBLEY, England (AP):

Hope Solo found herself enveloped in a group hug at the final whistle. Abby Wambach ran to join the fun in a celebration that unleashed a year of bottled-up frustration.

The US women's football team won its third straight Olympic gold medal yesterday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and avenging the most painful loss in its history.

Carli Lloyd scored early in both halves, Solo leaped and dived to make saves, and the entire roster found the redemption it had been seeking since that penalty kick shoot-out loss in Germany last summer.

"This is the dream that we've all been thinking about and feeling for the last year since the World Cup," Wambach said.

Before 80,203 at Wembley Stadium, a record crowd for a women's football game at the Olympics, the teams put on a back-and-forth, don't-turn-your-head football showcase, proving again that these are the two premier teams in the world. Women's football is still in its formative stages in Britain, but the match proved more than worthy for the hallowed grounds of the beautiful game.

"I just kept pounding my chest, going 'Guys, this is only about heart. We'll all tired, every player on the field. Twenty-two players on the field are tired," Wambach said. "It's about who wants it more, right here, right now. And today we proved that we did."

The Japanese perhaps played just as beautifully as the Americans, using their speed and discipline to dominate possession and scoring chances for long stretches before finally cutting a 2-0 deficit in half with about a half-hour to go.