- Title: Lloyd leaves critics behind on road to fourth Games
- Date: 25th June 2021
- Summary: CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (JUNE 24, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) CARLI LLOYD, U.S. WOMEN'S TOKYO OLYMPIC TEAM SELECTION, ON HER FUTURE, SAYING: "I'm just in the moment right now, I'm in the moment focusing on Tokyo, you know, and then obviously come back and resume my season with Gotham FC and the remainder of the ational team games. But at some point you know all good things do come to an end. I feel incredible, I really do. I feel better than I ever have... I just feel like I've had so many years under my belt and you know, everything is all kind of coming together and so it's not going to be a physical thing for me to eventually retire - which, you know, maybe would be an easier thing. Like I feel so good, but it's, you know, it's going to come down to a life decision, wanting to start a family. My husband and do want to have kids and I definitely don't want to have kids and come back and play so it's that, it's living my life, spending time with friends, family, just doing all those things that I haven't been able to do but I want to get through Tokyo first and then kind of, start to head in that direction as to what, you know, I'm going to do."
- Embargoed: 9th July 2021 04:13
- Keywords: Carli Lloyd USA Olympic Team soccer
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Soccer,Sport,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA008EIWFD4V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: After two World Cup titles, a pair of Olympic golds and a roster spot secured for her fourth Summer Games, there is seemingly little that Carli Lloyd can't do.
In a recent Zoom interview with Reuters, her list of talents included troubleshooting a reporter's malfunctioning microphone, after navigating more than a year's worth of remote media calls in the excruciating wait for the delayed Tokyo Olympics.
"I can add it to my resume," said Lloyd, 38, the multifaceted forward who has come to embody the U.S. women's national soccer team since she scored the gold medal-winning goal in 2008, enjoying an unprecedented, age-defying career.
"(From an) explosive standpoint, a strength standpoint, this is the best I've ever felt," said Lloyd.
"I still have the same hunger, the same motivation the same determination. But yeah, I've come a long way from 2008, that's for sure."
The path hasn't always been easy, after well-documented frustration with former national team head coach Jill Ellis, who slotted her into a "super sub" role for the Stars and Stripes' successful 2019 World Cup, a snub Lloyd said was based on her age and not her ability.
"I was already being written off," said Lloyd.
"I didn't want people to sit here and feed off of this nonsense - that wasn't true - that I'm too old, I can't play 90 minutes, because here we are. I'm almost 39 years old and I'm playing 90 minutes."
It was a trial that prompted a personal ethos: "Be so good they can't ignore you."
Sidelined for most of 2020 with injury, Lloyd became the oldest player to score a goal for the four-time World Cup winners this month, and credits some of her longevity with diet, promoting - in the case of new sponsor Gone Rogue Protein Snacks quite literally - a high-protein approach to fueling.
"Everything (is) syncing up now," said Lloyd. "Everything that I have been working on, my preparation, it's all coming and now it's just the mindset."
After 302 international caps - the third most of any women's soccer player - she knows the road ahead is shorter than the one behind her.
"It's not going to be a physical thing for me to eventually retire - which, you know, maybe would be an easier thing," said Lloyd. "It's going to come down to a life decision."
(Production: David Grip & Peter Bullock) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
