“I Hated It”: Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Carli Lloyd Once Claimed the Culture USWNT Upholds Is ‘Worst’ She Has Ever Seen

Olympic champion Carli Lloyd is one of the best players in the USWNT. Her first tournament where she represented the United States was in 2005. Since then, Lloyd never backed off despite facing several difficulties. The number of medals and titles she bagged during her career is noteworthy; She secured gold in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and also helped the team win World Cups in 2015 and 2019. Nonetheless, her views about the culture of the team are unusual. 

Earlier this year, the athlete took part in a fellow teammate’s podcast called “Hope Solo Speaks”. That’s where she emphasized the term ‘culture’ and expressed her opinions regarding the USWNT. 

Carli Lloyd hated the culture prevalent in the USWNT

Soccer is a team game and requires one to cope with its members to bring out the best altogether. Star player Carli Lloyd was a pro at it. Every group has unavoidable internal conflicts but the same goal, to win tournaments. Nevertheless, not feeling united and following a wrong precept can ruin the culture within the team. 

Explaining the same, Lloyd revealed her experience in the USWNT via former goalkeeper Hope Solo’s podcast. She spoke about the disturbing culture of the squad and mentioned how horrible these seven years were. 

“It was really tough and challenging to be playing these last seven years. To be quite honest, I hated it,” said the soccer enthusiast. “It wasn’t fun going in. It was only for love of the game, really, for me. I wanted to win, and I wanted to help the team, but the culture within the team was the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

A book can’t be judged by its cover. No matter how happy and united the team appears from the outside, nobody except the players knows the actual situation. According to Carli Lloyd and her close friend from the soccer field Hope Solo, the USWNT’s culture has degraded. 

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Furthermore, Solo once mentioned that the team’s captain Megan Rapinoe forced them to take a knee during the national anthem. Lloyd was the only member to disobey that during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics match against Australia. 

Lloyd’s words of wisdom

Lloyd lived and breathed the game of soccer since she was five. With so much experience, she once stopped by to talk to the U-20 WNT and encourage them with her story.

“There are so many things that are out of your control that you can’t worry about and I go through it on a routine basis here,” said Carli Lloyd. “And you just got to grind, you got to roll the sleeves up and you got to get to work.”

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Her words motivated them to build a great women’s soccer team.