Thousands of fans celebrate World Cup victory in Washington DC

Thousands of fans just outside of Washington, DC celebrated early and often as the U.S. cruised to victory over Japan at the Women’s World Cup .

The United States scored four goals in the first 16 minutes – including a jaw-dropping shot from midfield by captain Carli Lloyd – en route to a 5-2 win in the championship match in Vancouver, Canada.

“It’s exciting, it was a really, really good game. They did what they were supposed to do and it’s a very happy time,” U.S. fan Brigitte said after the match.

With each goal fans watching giant video screens erupted and began chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A”.

“I’m proud to be an American, you know so very happy, joyous moment for all the soccer fans united.,” fan Fernando Bilbao told reporters after the chanting had died down.

And there wasn’t any doubt about what the highlight of the match was.

“Carli Llloyd when she lobbed it past the Japanese goalkeeper, caught her off guard, that was definitely the best one of the game,” added Bilbao.

The win secured the United States’ third World Cup and first since 1999.