The difference maker for U.S. shows up just in time at Women's World Cup

In the halftime huddle, before the United States got back out onto the field, veteran striker Abby Wambach demanded a goal within the first 10 minutes of the second half to break the 0-0 deadlock with China in its Women's World Cup quarterfinal, emphasizing her point with a profanity.

And six minutes later, Carli Lloyd delivered that goal emphatically. A set piece was played cross-field for Julie Johnston, who then lifted a high ball into the box. Lloyd leaped, beat her marker and hammered her header into the low right corner of the goal, beyond sprawling goalkeeper Wang Fei. Lloyd raced off towards the corner flag, which she treated to a flying karate kick. The relief was visible, an enormous and building weight falling off her.

Up until Friday night's 1-0 win in Ottawa – which sees the Americans into a frightful Tuesday semifinal with the only team in the world ranked higher than they are, Germany – this had not been Carli Lloyd's World Cup. In the USA's first four games in this tournament, she had labored heavily but struggled to have her usual influence on the games.

With opponents overloading the midfield, Lloyd, along with Lauren Holiday beside her, had found little room to operate and spent most of her time tracking back and shielding the defense. In taking turns with Holiday to advance in Jill Ellis's two-woman central midfield setup, Lloyd's once-assured dominance receded.

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The whole team, in truth, had had a difficult time of it until Friday, with only the vaunted defense and Hope Solo behind them acquitting themselves well. This wasn't such a surprise. For the last year or two, Lloyd has consistently been the best player on the team to the keenest of observers. And, owing to her peers' reliance on her toil on both sides of the ball, a strong correlation has developed between her form and that of the entire team. As Lloyd goes, so, for the most part, does the entire team.

But Lloyd was in some kind of slump, either owing to tactics that overburdened her or a rare loss of form. And all around her, the USA slumped right along with her. A swelling frustration was taking hold.

Against China, Lloyd rediscovered whatever it was she had misplaced. Just a minute and change into the game, she set Amy Rodriguez loose from the China defense, although her finish went comically wide. Emboldened, Lloyd continued spraying speculative passes about the field, while finally taking on opponents directly again.

The difference, counter-intuitively, was perhaps that Holiday was suspended for the game, due to yellow-card accumulation. And while this made observers nervous, as nobody on the team can match Holiday's midfield distribution, it kind of worked out well for Lloyd. For her new midfield partner, Morgan Brian, the team's youngest player, was tasked with sitting deep.

This finally unshackled Lloyd from most of her defensive duties and freed her up to push higher up the field. She ran riot in the sea of space the offensively unambitious Chinese left their opponents just outside the final third.

"Freedom," Lloyd told reporters following the game, when asked what had made the difference for her. "Freedom to play. Do what I do best, go at players."

In truth, the Americans' play had still not been totally convincing. A young Chinese side never really pushed for a goal of their own, even after they went down a goal, instead closing their ranks and avoiding damage. And the U.S. largely had to settle for hopeful crosses, pelted at Rodriguez and Alex Morgan, usually to little effect. Indeed, clear-cut scoring chances were sparse. Johnston's poke in a goal-mouth scramble was cleared just before the line and her free header from a corner zoomed just over. Other than that, the USA created little more than a few shots from distance.

But even that represented real progress from the arduous 3-1 win over Australia, the 0-0 tie with Sweden, the narrow 1-0 victory against Nigeria and the belabored 2-0 vanquishing of Colombia. And the difference was Lloyd.

When the final whistle rang out in Ottawa on Friday night, Lloyd was set upon by her teammates, who jumped on top of her or enveloped her in tight embraces. They, too, know all too well that for the United States to win the World Cup, Carli Lloyd needs to play like Carli Lloyd.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.