MONTREAL — The U.S. is going back to the World Cup final.

In its most dominant, confident and convincing performance of this tournament, the United States beat Germany 2-0 in the semifinal at Olympic Stadium. Jill Ellis mixed things up with her lineup by going with a 4-5-1 formation rather than the traditional 4-4-2. And it worked.

Carli Lloyd was given the freedom to roam and attack as she was in the quarterfinal, playing in front of Morgan Brian and Lauren Holiday, who solidified the middle. The U.S. had more quality chances arise thanks to a controlled midfield and a stout back line, and was able to punish Germany up and down the flanks with speed.

The U.S. will play the winner of Japan-England in the World Cup final on Sunday in Vancouver.

Here are three takeaways from the victory:

1. Alex Morgan missed too many chances

As the lone striker in Ellis’ 4-5-1 formation, the U.S. was going all in on Morgan to score. And she had three point-blank chances. All of which she missed.

The first came in the 15th minute when Tobin Heath slipped a gorgeous through ball to Morgan deep in German territory. Morgan shook off a defender, but poor ball placement allowed goalkeeper Nadine Angerer – her Portland Thorns teammate – to get her left foot on the shot for the save.

“(Nadine and I) joked a little bit after the game. I told Nadine, ‘You know you saved my goal because you want me to score in the final right?'” Morgan said. “And she said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I saved it because I want you to save your goals for the final.’ She was really positive and told me good luck.”

In the 44th minute, Morgan clipped the ball past the last defender, but her shot went wide, rolling all the way across to the other sideline. Early in the second half it was more of the same, beating one final defender but going wide against Angerer.

“I don’t know when (they’ll go in), but eventually they will,” Morgan said of her chances.

Though she didn’t convert, Morgan did create. She set up the USA’s first goal when she took on the right side of the German defense and was fouled just outside box. Carli Lloyd took a penalty kick to put the U.S. up 1-0.

“It was clearly outside of the area and it can be seen quite clearly on TV,” German coach Silvia Neid said of the decision.

2. Carli Lloyd continues to come up in the clutch

As she did in the quarterfinal, captain Lloyd put the U.S. on her back when it needed a goal.

When Annike Krahn received a yellow card for her tackle on Morgan, Lloyd took the penalty. She didn’t even look at Angerer or anyone else. And when the whistle blew, she buried it.

“That felt like a good five minutes where I was waiting to take that PK,” Lloyd said. “But I walked over, I got the ball, I don’t know what was going on behind me, I don’t know what the ref was saying, I don’t know what the goalkeeper was doing. All I know is I put the ball down and I had a seamless PK.”

Later on in the half, Lloyd found herself deep on the left side and slid a perfect ball across the mouth of the goal. Kelley O’Hara was there for the one-touch into the back of the net to put the U.S. up 2-0 in the final minutes.

“Carli Lloyd is one of those players who doesn’t care where she plays, she just wants to be on the pitch and I thought it was a brilliant move (to play with three central midfielders). I told Jill that a couple days ago,” Abby Wambach said. “We have so much trust and faith in Carli and Carli has so much confidence in herself that it doesn’t matter where you put her on the field. I think she played five different positions tonight.”

3. The defense is the heart of this team

The U.S. back line has been nothing but phenomenal all tournament, and against the most dangerous offense its seen with attackers like Celia Sasic and Anja Mittag, it held a team with 20 goals this World Cup to zero.

Becky Sauerbrunn controlled the middle and directed the rest of the defense. Julie Johnston played freely and Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Krieger owned the flanks.

Hope Solo was expected to have more action in this game than any previous ones, but she again remained a spectator for the most part.

Johnston received a yellow card when she pulled down a German player in the box, which could have been the United States’ undoing, but Sasic pulled her shot wide left. Johnston was emotional after the foul, but almost every U.S. player on the field came up to her immediately for support.

“I wish I could have that moment back,” Johnston said. “Definitely a defender’s worst nightmare. It happened so fast and this was a team performance and the team definitely lifted me up after that happened and finished the chances. Definitely an emotional roller coaster. But it’s a team sport and the team today really stepped up for me. I really can’t thank them enough and I’m sure I’ll thank them all the way to the final.”

Added Wambach: “This was an epic team win. It could have gone bad if that penalty for the Germans goes in. Our back line might have sense of depression or (lacked) confidence in those final moments. But they didn’t. They had each other’s backs.”