Which players have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final?
It’s a question that’s probably been used in pub quizzes across the United Kingdom and beyond and, for many football fans, it appears to have a simple answer.
Geoff Hurst in 1966 and Kylian Mbappe in 2022.
But a third player has also achieved this remarkable feat. One who’s time at City was equally brief, but instrumental in a historic moment for the Club.
The title might have been a giveaway, but it’s none other than the main protagonist of this feature: Carli Lloyd.
Mbappe’s hat-trick saw his career come of age and Hurst’s hat-trick saw football come home, but neither player – for all their completely deserved plaudits – scored as audacious a goal as Lloyd en route to her treble in the 2015 World Cup final.
A repeat of the 2011 showpiece, the United States had stormed into a three-goal lead against Japan inside 14 minutes, with Lloyd grabbing a brace from two well-worked set-piece situations to start the rout in Canada.
But the USA captain’s pièce de resistance was to follow just two minutes later, when she picked up play inside her own half, flicked the ball around Rumi Utsugi and chipped goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori from the halfway line.
Lloyd scored 134 goals for her nation, but the way she made this almost impossible strike look so effortless perfectly encapsulated her legendary status within the game.
Less than two years later, the forward would lift another trophy having once again played a starring role in a major final, this time for City.
She only needed three months and 12 matches to help write her name in the Club’s history.
Lloyd hung up her boots in 2021 and has embarked on a hugely successful punditry career since then but is more than willing to reminisce on her brief spell at the Joie Stadium.
Warm and friendly, the former US international remembers her time at the Club in remarkable detail, offering her insight as part of City’s 10-year professional anniversary celebrations in January 2024.
It’s instantly clear to see why she left such a positive impact on her former team-mates, the City staff and fans alike. But to reach the heights that Lloyd has in such a brutal industry requires a different side to a person’s character.
Club legend Steph Houghton summed things up perfectly from one of the US international’s first sessions after joining City on a short-term loan from Houston Dash.
“Carli was a really interesting character if I’m being honest,” Houghton begins.
“Such a lovely girl, but you knew why she was one of the best players in the world and why she’d won things.
“I always remember her first session with us, we did jump testing in the gym.
“The English mentality is always to be good at testing and you’ve got to make sure you get a good score. I think a few people beat Carli on this jump testing.
“But she was like ‘you know what, if there’s a ball up there and I’m jumping for it, I know who’s winning – never mind this jump testing.’
“That’s my type of girl.”
City had tasted plenty of success in our early years as a professional outfit but in Lloyd the Club had acquired a genuine heavyweight of the game.
Interest had been there since that iconic World Cup performance in 2015, but the opportunity to make our move didn’t come until the 2017 Spring Series, when a mini tournament was introduced ahead of the WSL’s restructuring to the September-May model that autumn.
It was only ever going to be a short-term agreement, but it was one that Lloyd remembers being an attractive and mutually beneficial proposition.
“I ended up going over there a bit on the down low,” she reflects with a smile.
“Checking out the city, getting a tour of the facilities and in that time when I was asked to come and play, it was the Spring Series. I came in at the tail end of what was a really long year for the team.
“I think what drew me was obviously the facilities, the reputation of City on the women's side and being able to compete in the Champions League and the FA Cup.
“Plus, it was going to be a short stint so I felt like I could please everybody, Houston as well, and kind of come in on the back end.
“It was an opportunity that presented itself, I wasn't seeking it out. But I thought if there's any time to be able to immerse myself in a different culture, live in a different country, learn more and push myself as a player and a person, that opportunity was something I was wanting to take.”
City came into the Spring Series on the back of a league and cup double, and Lloyd’s introduction added a further injection of star quality to an exciting young squad.
She’d been there and done it on the biggest stages, but the adaptation to the English game and City in particular presented the forward with a fresh challenge almost 20 years after her first taste of senior football.
Lloyd adds: “For a number of years, we relied on being physically fit and mentally tough in America. Sure, there's some tactical stuff in there as well and some technical stuff, but it was mostly kind of built on that physical and mental aspect.
“I always prided myself on really getting the technical aspect down within my game, first touch, shooting, long balls, crosses, just really finessing that.
“And so, my experience with City and with Nick Cushing, he was very detailed. The system we played with kind of the eight and ten, with Jill Scott on one side and me on the other, I wasn't really used to that.
“The different types of movements, the sequencing of passing patterns, the proper foot that you’re playing it to, [it was all] very, very detailed.
“I really did enjoy that. I think that it definitely challenged me because from an individual perspective I would work on that, but now it was being immersed in a team environment.
“That type of stuff wasn't stressed as much in my career at that moment, and so it took some getting used to and I think what was hard was it was only about three months, so I had to really get myself up to speed right away.
“And not just the tactical adjustment, but learning everybody's names, learning everybody's tendencies, learning the way that Nick coaches, I went there wanting to kind of make sure I was pleasing everybody, pleasing the players and Nick as well.
“It was challenging to get up to speed right away but from the minute I got there, it was very detail oriented, very technical, tactical and I think that's what's made England so great.”
But despite having to solve that initial conundrum, Lloyd adapted to City's demands like a duck to water.
She made her debut in a 1-0 FA Cup win over Reading, before opening her City account just five days later in a UEFA Women’s Champions League triumph away to Fortuna Hjorring, heading home the game’s only goal.
Any fears that the American may struggle to adapt to her first stint in Europe were soon forgotten.
“Her mentality was just scary,” former City team-mate Houghton continues.
“I think she’s one of the only players that, after training, would go and do more.
“She’d have food, then go out on the pitch by herself even if it was just 20 or 30 shots at an empty net – that was her way of trying to be better.
“Just doing things properly, and when you have someone like that on your team, you know you’ve got a better chance of winning because, no matter what, she’s doing everything she can to help the team win.”
Having got the better of Fortuna Hjorring, City’s first foray into Europe’s elite competition would see us face the holders and undisputed heavyweights on the continent: Lyon.
The French giants were on their way to a fourth Champions League title in seven seasons and the second in a five-year sequence that wouldn’t end until Barcelona’s period of relative dominance in the early 2020s.
Despite our success on a domestic front and the established names in our squad, the Blues came in as the underdogs and a damaging 3-1 first leg loss at home left us with a mountain to climb in France.
It would ultimately prove too difficult a task for City to overturn that two-goal deficit, but we did come away from the second leg with an impressive 1-0 win.
Lloyd once again was the player to score the goal in France, pouncing on a mistake by Lyon stopper Sarah Bouhaddi to at least ensure our maiden Champions League campaign ended with a win.
To play in Europe’s elite competition had been a major factor in the American’s move to City and it was an experience she relished, even if it was tinged with a hint of frustration around the manner of the Blues’ semi-final exit.
“I think we definitely had the squad to do it if you erase the home game against Lyon, which was a bit of a nightmare,” Lloyd said when asked if City could have won the competition that season.
“There were just some unfortunately circumstances, so we went into the game at Lyon with nothing to lose and we did well, we really competed against them in their home stadium.
“I think there was an intimidation factor from a mental standpoint. Maybe we allowed their gigantic name and the players they had [to impact us], we defeated ourselves a bit.
“If we erased that and held them to a better scoreline, or even went up at home, we would’ve been able to definitely beat them.
“Although we didn’t come home with a Champions League, it was an amazing experience and I wish I was able to play there a little longer and experience it a little longer. It was a special experience, for sure.”
But there was still one final opportunity for Lloyd’s brief time at City to yield a special piece of silverware.
Her first City appearance had come in the FA Cup and, rather poetically, she also delivered perhaps her crowning moment for the Blues in the competition’s final that year.
Nick Cushing’s side faced Birmingham City in the 2017 showpiece, playing at Wembley Stadium for the first time in our history in the process.
Although not the force they’d been five or so years prior, Birmingham were still a tough nut to crack, boasting future Blues Ellen White and Aoife Mannion in their ranks alongside German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, later of Chelsea fame.
It promised to be a fascinating spectacle at one of football’s iconic venues, but Lloyd’s approach to the occasion provided another insight into her extraordinary mentality.
Once again, it’s Steph Houghton – herself a legend of the game famed for her incredible mindset – who picks up the story.
“I always remember that Wembley final, we were all looking outside the hotel room thinking ‘who the hell is that jogging around the pitch?’,” she recalls.
“It was Carli. She was jogging around the stadium!
“She said: ‘I always do a 20-minute jog on the day of a game’. We were like ‘oh my god’, we’re trying to rest our legs as much as possible to make sure we’re fresh as anything going into the game.
“She was like: ‘No, it’s the same as any other game and I won’t change for a final’.”
Like so many key moments in her career, that preparation paid dividends for Lloyd.
Goals from Lucy Bronze and Izzy Christiansen saw City roar into a two-goal lead before the 25-minute mark in the FA Cup final, before the American got in on the act herself.
Megan Campbell looped a dangerous ball into the far post from a short corner routine which Lloyd, Houghton and Birmingham stopper Berger all made a move towards.
It was the American who would meet it though, heading home City’s third and all but sealing our first FA Cup title in the process.
“If there’s a ball up there and I’m jumping for it, I know who’s winning,” had been Lloyd’s tongue-in-cheek claim after her first training session at City. She’d backed it up on the biggest stage.
The Blues would go on to win the 2017 FA Cup final 4-1, and it’s a moment the American puts on an equal pedestal to the swathe of major honours she earned during her remarkable career.
“Any time I can compete and win championships, the notch of my competitiveness just goes through the roof,” she admits.
“Now when watching the FA Cup, packing out Wembley, filling stadiums, it's so amazing to see.
“I feel like I was kind of there in the beginning stages of what was to come. I think I’m two for two at Wembley, the 2012 Olympic final there and the FA Cup, I was able to get a goal there as well.
“It’s just one of the most iconic stadiums to play in and it was really special to be able to win another championship. It was definitely up there with many of the other championships.”
A red card against Yeovil Town would restrict Lloyd to just one more appearance during her short spell at City, with the US international helping us end the Spring Series with a 3-1 win over Liverpool before moving back Stateside.
Across the following four years her remarkable success in the sport continued apace, with another World Cup triumph in 2019 before hanging up her boots in 2021.
Lloyd’s legacy as one of the best players of all time – not just her own generation – was already firmly established by this point.
But for all of her achievements in the game, spanning over two decades and four World Cups, her handful of appearances for City left a lasting impression.
“My time there was one of the best of my career,” Lloyd concludes.
“I wish I could’ve done it again or had a longer stint there, but I met some incredible people, experienced some incredible things and there’s a part of me where I still root for Manchester City, men and women.
“I still follow City and I still keep in touch with some of the girls. Jill Scott in particular, we always keep in touch and met at the World Cup [in 2023].
“The one thing with the fans is they’re so loyal and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to come in as an American and play and for the fans to take me in as their own.
“There’s a part of my journey where it felt like a home away from home, so that’s really special.”
Words by George Kelsey. Design by James Wright
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