Carli Lloyd finishing U.S. Women's National Team career knowing she 'gave it all I had'

By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer

Not long after Vlatko Andonovski took over the two-time defending World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Team in 2019, Carli Lloyd, the team's most decorated veteran, came to him with an odd question.

"How do you feel about extra work?" Lloyd asked.

One of the greatest soccer players in history then explained to the new coach that for years while on national team road trips, she had been covertly using Google maps to find open green space where she could do additional fitness training on her own.

"You’re going to do it anyway," Andonovski said. "You might as well do it with us so you don’t have to go to parks and twist your ankle."

As Lloyd prepares to play the 315th and final game of her historic international career against South Korea on Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1), there are plenty of such anecdotes. Lloyd is being celebrated for her haul of silverware and gaudy individual numbers — two World Cup wins, two Olympic gold medals, 134 goals (almost 100 of them since turning 30), twice named FIFA’s best player — but the uncompromising, unapologetic way she went about her business en route to greatness is perhaps her greatest legacy.

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"I don't think that there's many that understand what it actually takes," Lloyd told FOX Sports on Monday during her final pregame news conference. "It’s very tiring to continue to prove people wrong."

That singular drive required sacrifices, lots of them. To Lloyd, anything that didn’t help her hurt her. She didn’t party or stay out late. She insisted that her husband, Brian, not travel to support her at major tournaments, lest he be a distraction.

Early in her career, she sometimes rubbed teammates the wrong way. When other players were socializing or blowing off steam, she’d be getting in an extra workout or resting ahead of the next practice. Right up until the August announcement that Tuesday would mark her swan song, Carli Lloyd had zero chill.

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Now she’s looking forward to finally doing some of the things she has missed.

"There were times where maybe my focus was too intense, but I gave it all I had," she said. "This next phase of mine, I think, is going to be no different. I'm going to find something that I'm passionate about and do it to the best of my ability. I want to eventually start a family with my husband and be the best mom and strive to be the best wife that I possibly can."

Then she caught herself. "It’s going to be a little different," she admitted.

For so long, Lloyd knew only one speed. It had been that way since she was famously cut from the U.S. Under-21 team. From then on, she was hell-bent on doing everything she possibly could to stick around. The high point, of course, was her first-half hat trick that won the U.S. its first World Cup in 16 years in 2015. But there are so many other highlights.

"I think at times she has been able to create something to motivate her, like Michael Jordan and other great athletes have," said FOX soccer analyst and former USMNT defender Alexi Lalas, who, like Lloyd, played college soccer at Rutgers University. "Carli Lloyd has this massive chip on her shoulder that for some would become an albatross. It should come as no surprise that she’s from New Jersey. People from her neck of the words are really good at harnessing that and using it as fuel."

"When you think of a word that describes Carli Lloyd, it’s resiliency," said color commentator Kyndra de St. Aubin, who will call Lloyd’s final game. "Clearly she was gifted. But knowing that it takes that hard work — she’s never been afraid to put it in. She’s defied the odds. When people thought she shouldn’t be on the national team anymore, she fought tooth-and-nail to stay in that mix, and deservedly so. She’s done the grind. This is her moment to really soak it in and shine."

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In attendance Tuesday at Allianz Field will be more than 20 members of Lloyd’s family, including her mother and father, her sister, her nieces, Brian and his mother. That’s no small thing; Lloyd was estranged from much of her family for more than a decade, including during the 2015 and ’19 World Cup wins.

They reconnected during the pandemic. In fact, if not for the global health crisis, Lloyd might not be retiring. At 39, the USWNT’s oldest Olympian ever was arguably the team's best player this past summer in Tokyo. Lloyd can still play. But COVID-19 forced her to see that life is about more than soccer.

On Sunday, Lloyd attended a Rolling Stones concert and met the band along with fellow USWNT vets Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. It’s something she probably wouldn’t have done in the past. "I'm not missing out on anything now," she said.

Tuesday won’t be the last we see of Lloyd. "This is a goodbye on the field, but this is not a goodbye for me in the soccer world," she said. "I want to continue to help grow the game."

The game won’t forget her, either.

"If she was a male soccer player in Europe, we would have statues of Carli Lloyd all over," Andonovski said. "Just to watch her train, it’s inspiring for the players, but it’s inspiring for the coaching staff as well. The way she pushes everyone to be their best every time they step on the field, it’s something I will remember Carli for forever."

One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.