Viral Video of the Day: USA Midfielder Carli Lloyd Performs Trick Shots for B/R

Women's soccer took the spotlight Wednesday at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and United States midfielder Carli Lloyd was one of the players who really shined.

Lloyd, a 30-year-old midfielder, scored the second-half winner as the Americans came from 2-0 down to beat France 4-2 in Group G action.

The goal was an absolute piledriver, a cannonball from long distance. And it was even more impressive because Lloyd had entered the match as a substitute in the first half for the injured Shannon Boxx.

Here's the goal. Enjoy, but it's not Thursday's B/R Viral Video of the Day.

Thursday's Viral Video of the Day comes directly from B/R itself. Yes, it's a shameless bit of self-promotion, but we think you'll enjoy it.

In the video above, you can watch Wednesday's goal hero take a series of impressive trick shots. B/R National Lead Writer Dan Levy was on hand for all of it, and he even got involved in a penalty shootout challenge at the end.

Here's what Dan had to say about it:

"

Carli Lloyd, midfielder for the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team, met with us at the Universal Soccer Academy near her hometown of Delran, NJ before leaving for the London Olympics. In addition to talking about the U.S. chances in the Olympics, we had some fun on the field, shooting a host of trick shots as well as making a bet to let me have her gold medal if I saved a PK. I did not, but it was a lot of fun trying.

"

The backstory: Had Dan saved one of Lloyd's penalties, he would have won access to Lloyd's 2008 gold medal for a whole day (or maybe a half hour). 

On a somewhat related note, Lloyd scored the decisive goal in extra time of the 2008 gold-medal match. So don't feel too bad, Dan.

Click here for Dan's profile and here for Dan's interview with Carli. You can follow him on Twitter @DanLevyThinks.

Follow @MikeCummings37