Midge Purce has said she was “baffled” to hear Carli Lloyd questioning the U.S. women’s national team’s mentality, calling her former teammate’s criticism “ludicrous.”
After a 0-0 draw against Portugal in Tuesday’s World Cup Group E finale, USWNT legend Lloyd laid into her former teammates.
“I’m just not seeing that passion,” Lloyd said on Fox. “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.”
Lloyd’s comments have not gone down well with her former USWNT and NJ/NY Gotham FC teammate, who vehemently defended her teammates’ desire and commitment to the cause.
“I was baffled by the comments,” Purce said on “The 91st” show from Just Women’s Sports.
“I’m all for critiquing the players’ performances, their tactical awareness, their positioning, their quality on the ball, but to diminish their commitment and their discipline, their character — that’s absolutely ludicrous to me,” Purce said.
“These are players who when they got the call that they were going to the World Cup, they were trembling. Their phones were shaking, they couldn’t even hold the cameras straight.
“I’ve seen these players fall to pieces about this team, about this dream of going to the World Cup, and then pick themselves back up and put it all together. They tear their bodies apart so that they can get to this stage, get to this level, and then their passion is questioned.”
USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski was similarly incredulous when asked about Lloyd’s comments, which he called “insane.”
Purce narrowly missed the USWNT World Cup roster, with a torn quad suffered in April damaging her hopes of making the team.
Watch Purce respond to Lloyd comments
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