From the start, it felt like the fate of the United States women’s national team hinged not on talent or tactics or even luck, but on the answers to a series of open questions. Can Alex Morgan get healthy in time to contribute? What do we do with Christen Press and Sydney Leroux? What happens when we pretend a withdrawn striker can play as a defensive midfielder? Who invited the old retired lady? Turns out, the only question that mattered was whether USWNT manager Jill Ellis could trot out a lineup that afforded the United States’ best player, attacking midfielder Carli Lloyd, time and space to do her thing. It took a while, and the United States spent the first half of the tournament ignoring their midfield, instead lofting jump balls to Abby Wambach’s corpse or driving prayers into the corners for Morgan. It was ugly, scary stuff. But Ellis finally came around, and switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1. Morgan Brian held down the bulk of the defensive duties; the hyperathletic Lauren Holiday was finally left off her leash to run around and generally wreck shit; and Lloyd was free to sit between the opposing midfield and defensive…