U.S. Olympic gold-medal game heroine Carli Lloyd says there is no one who works harder than she does, and Australian coach  James Galanis is a testament to that.

Galanis, who has worked with her for the last 10 years, tells the story of the time Lloyd hopped off a red-eye from Los Angeles and headed straight to his practice field to get to work. "Here's a world-class athlete who has achieved so much," he said, "but still trains like she's achieved nothing."

Galanis, who coached the Atlanta Beat in WPS, has been so important to Lloyd that she called him from Wembley within minutes of the conclusion of Thursday's final. He was at a sports bar in Marlton, N.J., watching the game at a viewing party he organized, though he didn't let Lloyd know that.

"Can you hear me?" he said. "What's going on? What time's the game on?" Pause. "I thought it was on at 4:45?" Only then, did Lloyd realize that he was pulling her leg.

"What did I tell you?" he said. "I told you. Feel good?" After being dropped from the starting lineup, Galanis told Lloyd to be patient and her chance would come.