Carli Lloyd has defended her harsh criticism of the U.S. women’s national team during the World Cup, saying that “sometimes the truth hurts.”
Lloyd stirred up controversy with some of her comments as an analyst on Fox Sports during the tournament, particularly after a lackluster 0-0 draw with Portugal to close out the group stage.
In addition to slamming the USWNT for dancing and smiling after the result, Lloyd also offered pointed comments on the team’s mentality
“I’m just not seeing that passion,” Lloyd said on air. “I’m just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking it for granted, where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening.”
In an interview with The Athletic, the former USWNT star said that her comments came from the heart and were the product of the passion she has for the team.
“This wasn’t anything that was scripted,” Lloyd said. “This was a reaction to what I was seeing, what I was feeling, what came from my heart. I poured my heart and soul into this team for 17 years.”
Lloyd retired shortly after the Olympics in 2021, a tournament at which the USWNT underperformed en route to a bronze medal. After the U.S. crashed out at the last 16 of this year’s World Cup, Lloyd again leveled criticism at head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
“I was at the tail end of what I saw was a regression with the team, which wasn’t good enough in Tokyo. The team was disjointed, was not a unit, and the coaching was not what this team needed. So I saw this, I felt this, I experienced this. I wasn’t truly confident in this team winning the World Cup.”
Though she’s received some criticism over the personal nature of her attacks on the USWNT’s passion, Lloyd said she stood by what she said.
“Maybe I was the only one brave enough to say it how it is,” Lloyd said. “I’ve always been somebody that is blunt, that’s honest, that maybe comes across to the media as being selfish, arrogant, all these words that I’ve heard about me. And that’s been pretty wild to hear because it’s really not true.”
She added: “I did speak the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts. But it came from my heart. The world has caught up. I get that. But there’s no reason why we still can’t be at the top. But we have regressed so far down that there really is no gap. That’s what’s hard to swallow because the team has been built on legacies that have been passed down from generation to generation, and I simply didn’t like what I saw.”
[lawrence-related id=25069,24979,24951]