The U.S. women’s national team lost 2-1 to Germany on Thursday night, the team’s third consecutive defeat.
To put it simply, the USWNT just doesn’t lose three games in a row. Before the Germany defeat, it had been 29 years since the USWNT’s last three-game losing streak. It has never lost four in a row.
That three-game streak in 1993 came well before the legendary USWNT careers of Heather O’Reilly and Carli Lloyd began. Both were dismayed by what they saw in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday and made their opinions crystal clear on Twitter.
O’Reilly and Lloyd both questioned the team’s mentality, an intangible but vital part of the USWNT becoming the most decorated women’s national team ever.
“Rewatched the match from last night and have to say I am tremendously disappointed. Simply not good enough in so many regards,” O’Reilly began in a thread.
“Let’s start with mentality. Last 30 minutes. Too many allowed crosses in the box and not dealt with well at all. On the flip side, no urgency in the last 5 mins. You are about to lose at home. Get the f—— ball down the field and fight.”
Lloyd, like O’Reilly a World Cup and Olympic champion, echoed the sentiment of her former USWNT teammate.
“The winning culture and mentality that has carried on from generation to generation within the USWNT has been fizzling away,” she said on Twitter in response to O’Reilly.
“I said it when I retired. I saw it slipping away. Players have to embody that. That’s been our DNA since the 80s, but not so much anymore.”
The winning culture and mentality that has carried on from generation to generation within the USWNT has been fizzling away. I said it when I retired. I saw it slipping away. Players have to embody that. That’s been our DNA since the 80s, but not so much anymore. https://t.co/X0rnPxBVG4
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) November 11, 2022
O’Reilly did end her thread on a positive note, putting more pressure on a USWNT side that will already be feeling the heat ahead of its final game of 2022.
“Thrilled the team has a chance for redemption in a few days to make things right,” O’Reilly said ahead of the USWNT’s rematch with Germany at Red Bull Arena on Sunday.
[lawrence-related id=9583,9584,9491]