Tag: Carli Lloyd

Lloyd: USWNT has embraced Albert after anti-LGBTQ+ controversy

Alexi Lalas said Albert’s Olympic performance said “a lot about her mentality, as a person and as a player”

Carli Lloyd believes that the U.S. women’s national team has embraced Korbin Albert after the controversial midfielder was a vital part of the team’s Olympic gold medal victory.

Albert has been under fire for months after fans discovered homophobic and transphobic social media posts on TikTok, with the 20-year-old called out by USWNT players past and present.

Amid the controversy, the midfielder continued to be an important midfield cog for the USWNT, with head coach Emma Hayes offering her backing after naming Albert to the Olympic roster.

Albert repaid Hayes’ faith at the tournament in France, playing in five of the team’s six games and starting two of its three knockout-round matches — including Saturday’s gold medal game.

Playing at her club Paris Saint-Germain’s home stadium Parc des Princes, Albert delivered the game-winning assist to Mallory Swanson as the USWNT defeated Brazil 1-0 to take home its first gold medal since 2012.

In an appearance on the State of the Union podcast with Alexi Lalas, USWNT legend Lloyd said that from the outside, it appeared that the team had moved on from the controversy.

“She was one of the best players on the field that day (against Brazil) and she played a huge role,” Lloyd said of Albert.

“The midfield looked a little bit more cohesive, and then she played that perfectly weighted pass on for Mallory Swanson to score.

“Ultimately, you silence haters by doing something well on the field and performing. I can’t comment on what’s been going on within the team, but it certainly looks like the team has embraced her.

“When she scored her goal (against Australia), everybody was hugging her and seemed really excited. So hopefully everybody can just move on. And I would imagine that the group has talked about the issue and talked about what happened, and I’m sure they’re wanting to move past it as well.”

Lalas added: “Let’s hope so. Ultimately, she did the job on the field, and she did the job on the field even with all the other stuff that was going on, and the crap that she has been getting off the field. And so it says a lot about her mentality, as a person and as a player.”

In addition to her assist against Brazil, Albert also scored her first USWNT goal in a 2-1 win over Australia to close out the group stage.

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Hayes doing ‘fantastic job tactically and mentally,’ Lloyd gushes

The USWNT legend was full of praise for the new head coach

It’s still early in the Emma Hayes era, but Carli Lloyd clearly likes what she sees so far.

Hayes led the U.S. women’s national team to a 2-1 win over Australia on Wednesday, completing a perfect Olympic group stage that saw the team secure wins over Zambia, Germany and the Matildas by a combined score of 9-2.

It’s been a refreshing return to form for the USWNT, which struggled at the World Cup last summer en route to a program-worst last-16 elimination.

Hayes only took over as U.S. head coach in May, but has already stamped her authority on the team — particularly in a signature 4-1 win over world power Germany that was undoubtedly the team’s best major-tournament result since the 2019 World Cup.

Lloyd, who was part of that World Cup-winning side in addition to the 2015 champions, was full of praise for the team’s new boss in a post on X.

“It’s refreshing to see this group playing well! Emma doing a fantastic job tactically and mentally,” Lloyd said.

“Emma’s demeanor is calm and confident and that’s contagious. She believes in these players and they feel that. Players are confident and hungry again and no player is bigger than the team.”

The USWNT is now set for a major test in the quarterfinal, with Japan awaiting in a Saturday showdown in Paris.

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‘We won championships and we hated our coaches’ – Lloyd says USMNT too comfortable under Berhalter

The USWNT legend believes that players aren’t being held accountable under Berhalter

Carli Lloyd has questioned whether the U.S. men’s national team has become too comfortable under Gregg Berhalter, saying that the U.S. women’s national team won titles under coaches they “hated.”

The USMNT suffered a stunning early exit from the Copa América, losing 1-0 to Uruguay on Monday night to confirm that it wouldn’t advance beyond the group stage.

That result led to calls for Berhalter to be sacked as USMNT head coach just one year after U.S. Soccer confirmed he would be re-hired for another World Cup cycle.

Berhalter has always been popular with his players, many of whom publicly backed him to return to his previous position last year.

Speaking on FS1 after Monday’s game, USWNT legend Lloyd said that Berhalter’s popularity with his group wasn’t necessarily a positive — especially after such a disappointing tournament.

“My concern is just how comfortable these players are with Berhalter,” Lloyd said. “I mean, we won championships and we hated our coaches!

“I’m not saying you have to hate your coach, but I question how comfortable it is inside that locker room. Are they being pushed? Are they being held accountable? And it doesn’t look like that from the outside looking in.”

Lloyd, of course, didn’t expand on which coaches she and her teammates “hated,” but she won a number of titles with the USWNT under several different coaches.

The longtime USWNT star won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012, both under Pia Sundhage, while her two World Cup titles came under Jill Ellis in 2015 and 2019. She also won trophies under Greg Ryan, Tom Sermanni and Vlatko Andonovski.

Lloyd had notable issues with both Sundhage and Ellis, both of whom used the midfielder/forward as a substitute at various stages of their tenures — much to the player’s chagrin.

Watch Lloyd discuss Berhalter

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USWNT legend Lloyd announces pregnancy, opens up on difficult IVF journey

The 41-year-old said it took her two years and multiple rounds of IVF to get pregnant

U.S. women’s national team legend Carli Lloyd has announced that she and her husband Brian Hollins are expecting their first child.

Lloyd made the announcement in an Instagram post on Wednesday, saying that she is due in October.

The 41-year-old retired in 2021 after a decorated career that saw her go down as one of her sport’s all-time greats. At the time of her retirement, Lloyd said that she was hoping to start a family.

But Lloyd had a difficult journey to pregnancy, revealing in an essay for Women’s Health Magazine that it took her nearly two years and several rounds of in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

“I felt all the emotions during my career — stress, worry, fear, anxiety — but I’d never felt all the emotions that IVF brought on. I felt completely out of control. It’s an indescribable roller coaster unless you go through it,” Lloyd said.

She added: “When I look back at all the things I went through on the soccer field — whether it was a poor performance, getting benched, or missing a penalty kick in a World Cup final — there was always something I felt I could do to control the situation. I would go out and work 10 times harder. I was incredibly focused during my career. The majority of the time, the world saw me in competitor mode. A machine. I was often emotionless and numb because that’s the only way I felt I was able to survive and thrive.

“But this situation hit me so differently. I wasn’t emotionless or numb. Some nights I would lie in bed crying uncontrollably to Brian. I cried and worried a lot. I leaned on Brian more than I ever had, as well as on my family and friends. For the first time in my life, I needed their support to keep going.”

Lloyd said she wanted to fully share her story in order to let other people struggling with infertility know that they are not alone.

“I went from feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and afraid to tell people that I was going through IVF to now wanting to share my story to help others,” she said. “In times of struggle, we see what we are made of. We grow. We learn. And most important, we have more appreciation for the things we do have in life.”

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How does this former women’s World Cup star scratch her competitive itch these days? Plenty of golf

“Golf is a great way to stay involved in a sport. My husband plays so it’s something we can do together.”

As the rain hammered down on TPC Scottsdale this week and fans fled to find cover, retired U.S. women’s soccer star Carli Lloyd trudged towards a muddy ravine on No. 5, unperturbed. While other members of her group went on the cart path to avoid the mud, Lloyd and PGA Tour golfer Nick Taylor were the only players who risked ruining their shoes.

Even as the rain threatened to loosen her grip on the club, Lloyd hit a smooth pitch shot that stopped about 10 feet away from the pin. The two-time World Cup winner smiled and passed her wedge to caddie and husband, Brian Hollins.

“Golf is a great way to stay involved in a sport. My husband plays so it’s something we can do together,” Lloyd said before play was suspended at the Annexus Pro-Am of the WM Phoenix Open. “I just want to get to the point where I can comfortably play a round of golf and be good one day.”

Lloyd staying in great shape

While Lloyd has been retired from professional soccer for over two years, her competitive nature and desire to improve have not diminished. In 2023, she was featured on the inaugural season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” in which 16 recruits were thrust into rigorous training exercises meant to mimic those of the U.S. Special Forces. Lloyd won the challenge, beating out athletes like former NBA star Dwight Howard and former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola.

While training for golf isn’t exactly the same as training for the special forces, it still comes with its challenges, she said.

“It’s a really hard sport but I’m staying with it,” Lloyd said.

Hollins, a professional golfer, has been teaching his wife the game and said even in a sport that is relatively new to her, he loves that Lloyd still maintains her fierce attitude.

Carli Lloyd of NJ/NY Gotham FC, is seen as she plays against Racing Louisville FC in the second half during the Gotham FC final at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison on 10/31/21.

Competition on the course, coming soon

“We’re always competitive in everything that we do, whether it’s shooting basketballs or playing golf,” Hollins said. “I obviously can’t beat her in soccer.”

While the two aren’t competing in golf yet, Hollins said that’s coming soon.

Lloyd wasn’t able to reach the famous 16th hole as a part of her round Wednesday, but she got to fully experience the raucous environment when she played here last year.

“Your adrenaline kicks in,” Lloyd said. “The tough thing about golf is that it’s just you and the ball versus when I played soccer in a packed stadium. All eyes are on you.”

Lloyd, who didn’t turn down a single autograph or photo request even after the siren signaled the suspension of play, said while her competitive nature is still there, it has changed since retirement.

“I think my competitive juices are a bit different,” she said. “I’m definitely relaxed a bit more and trying to enjoy life.”

Everett Munez is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. This story originally ran in the Arizona Republic, part of the USA Today Network.

Rutgers women’s soccer legend Carli Lloyd joined the B1G Tailgate

On Saturday, two times FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion Carli Lloyd joined the B1G Tailgate before Rutgers football Week 7 game.

Two times FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion Carli Lloyd joined the B1G Tailgate before Rutgers football Week 7 game against Michigan State on Saturday.

During her interview, Lloyd described her interest in Rutgers and how the university was on her radar for schools to attend at a young age. While attending Rutgers, she was intrigued by trying to put Rutgers women’s soccer on the map.

The Delran, New Jersey, native had overwhelming success as a Scarlet Knight in 2001-04. She remains a strong focal point of the women’s soccer program. Lloyd is No. 1 all-time in the Rutgers career record books for points (117) and goals (50) and is second in game-winners (15) and shots (295). She was elected into the Rutgers Hall of Fame in 2018, holding the single-season records for points (37) and goals (15), and is second in game-winners (six) for the Big East Conference.

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Lloyd guided the Scarlet Knights to the Sweet Sixteen in the program’s second-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2001. Since 2001, Rutgers women’s soccer has gained national exposure as a contender, competing in multiple NCAA Tournaments.

 

Carli Lloyd: I was the only one brave enough to say it how it is

The USWNT legend was criticized for calling out the mentality of her former teammates

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.”

Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

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.”

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Alex Morgan brushes off retirement talk after USWNT’s World Cup elimination

Alex Morgan has no plans to call it quits right now.

The U.S. Women’s National Team’s disappointing Round of 16 exit from the 2023 World Cup in many ways marked the end of an era.

One of the team’s stars and leaders, Megan Rapinoe, already announced that this World Cup would be her last. Following the loss to Sweden on penalty kicks Sunday morning, Julie Ertz also announced her retirement.

Add in the loss of Carli Lloyd, who retired in 2021 following Team USA’s World Cup win in 2019, and many of the squad’s longtime fixtures won’t be around the next time it competes on the international stage.

Following the loss, all eyes turned to Alex Morgan. The 34-year-old striker has played for the USWNT since 2010 and captained it in its last two World Cup runs. But following a goalless performance in this year’s tournament, some questioned if she would follow in the footsteps of some of her veteran teammates.

She put that speculation to rest in an interview with ESPN following the loss.

“I’m not planning to hang up my boots anytime soon right now, ” Morgan said when asked if this World Cup would be her last. “So, just one day at a time now.”

Though it isn’t an outright commitment to playing in the 2027 World Cup — the host nation for which hasn’t been determined — it doesn’t sound like Morgan has any plans to slow down after the back-to-back defending champions bowed out in heartbreaking fashion.

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Can Carli Lloyd replace Vlatko Andonovski as USWNT head coach?

After a draw to Sweden, the U.S. Women’s National Team was eliminated in the 2023 World Cup. Will there be a coaching change for the USWNT?

After a hard-fought battle in the round of 16, the U.S. Women’s National Team was eliminated in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The tie to Sweden marks the earliest exit for the United States in the Women’s World Cup. Also, it ends the United States’ chances for the first team to win the tournament three straight times.

And it would surprise no one to see a new head coach for the United States ahead of this next cycle, including the Olympics and another World Cup in four years.

Earlier this week, ex-USWNT captain Carli Lloyd called out her former teammates for celebrating a tie to Portugal after a below-average performance. Lloyd holds her former team to a higher standard despite the current USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski deflecting Lloyd’s comments toward his team.

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Fans on social media our lashing out toward the Americans’ below-average performance in the 2023 World Cup, requesting Lloyd to take over Andonovski’s role as USWNT head coach. Does Lloyd have the credentials to take over as head coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team?

Lloyd’s Qualifications

Lloyd is a Fox Sports analyst and might be considered for the USWNT head coaching spot if Andonovski gets let go after an early tournament exit. The former Rutgers Women’s Soccer standout knows what it takes to win (she has won two World Cups and has three Olympic medals), and USWNT needs an experienced leader to get them over the hump.

The New Jersey native from Delran, New Jersey, has 134 career goals and 64 assists while appearing in 316 games for the USWNT. Lloyd is known for performances in high-pressure moments, scoring game-winners at Rutgers, in the SheBelieves Cup, the 2008 and 2012 Olympics gold medal games, and the 2015 World Cup final.

During her four years at Rutgers, Lloyd is the only Scarlet Knight to earn First-Team All-Big East Honors four times in her career (2001-2004). Also, she got named the 2001 Big East Rookie of the Year. The Rutgers all-time points (117) and goals (50) leader can be a strong candidate for the possible USWNT head coach position.

Lloyd traveled the world with the National Team and played in two U.S. Women’s professional leagues. She played for the Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue, and Atlanta Beat in the Women’s Premier Soccer League. After playing in the WPS, she joined the National Women’s Soccer League and played for the Western New York Flash, Houston Dash, and Sky Blue FC. Her last season came in Manchester City, where she joined the Champions League in 2017.

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USWNT’s Lindsey Horan on Carli Lloyd’s World Cup criticism: ‘You have no idea what’s going on’

Lindsey Horan responded to former teammate Carli Lloyd’s criticism after the USWNT’s tie vs. Portugal.

U.S. Women’s National Team star Lindsey Horan had an answer to Carli Lloyd’s criticism following the Americans’ final game of the group stage.

After an uninspired 0-0 tie with Portugal, Lloyd — a two-time World Cup champion and retired USWNT player — criticized her former team for dancing and smiling with fans in the stands. She also suggested the team’s fame has gone to some players’ heads.

The now FOX Sports broadcaster then clarified her comments, saying she made them because she cares “deeply about this team.”

But, as ESPN reported Thursday from Auckland, New Zealand, Lloyd’s comments didn’t sit well with Horan, the USWNT current captain. Horan said the criticism was “frustrating for me to hear” because of how hard the team has worked.

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“Again, it’s noise and, again, it’s an opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion — we know that’s how it goes,” Horan added. “But for me, I always want to defend my team and say: you have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes, you have no idea every single training what we’re doing individually, collectively, etcetera.

“So, for anyone to question our mentality hurts a little bit but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care. It’s what’s going inside of the team and getting ready for that next game.”

Advancing out of the group stage and into the knockout round, the USWNT opens the Round of 16 against Sweden on Sunday at 5 a.m. ET on FOX.

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