Carli Lloyd's game-winner, USWNT reunion and a $1 million prize: TST balances fun with fire

New York Times

a day ago

The past few days in Cary, North Carolina have felt like a U.S. women's national team reunion, complete with slide tackles and a $1 million prize on the line. World Cup winners like Heather O'Reilly, Carli Lloyd, Ali Krieger and Hope Solo laced up once again, not just for nostalgia, but to satiate that ever-present hunger for competition and glory.
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Their battleground was The Soccer Tournament (TST), a seven-a-side, winner-takes-all competition which is equal parts entertainment and sport. And for the second year in a row, it has become something of a post-retirement playground for the U.S. women's national team.
Starting last week, games were played on a smaller field with a fast-paced format designed for high-stakes and comebacks. The tournament featured rolling substitutions and target score time, meaning a game finishes on a final goal as opposed to when time ends. The target score is determined by adding one to the leading team's score after the full-time whistle and having teams compete to see who is the first to reach that total. As an added obstacle, a player from each team is removed from the field of play every three minutes until this target score is reached.
In its third year, 48 men's teams and 16 women's teams competed for a $1 million prize. It all comes down to the two finals on Monday night: reigning champions US Women play Bumpy Pitch FC Women at 7 and Bumpy Pitch FC (men) take on Pumas De Alabama at 8:30, streaming on ESPN+.
'This is our third year in the tournament,' O'Reilly, US Women founder and captain, told The Athletic. Chatting from her bed between two matches, in mid-recovery on Friday, she talked about the tournament's evolution. 'Year one, we were the only all-women's team, got our butts kicked, but probably were fan favorites. That loss turned into something bigger and the following year we demanded a women's division and equal prize money.'
TST organizers first questioned the idea of paying women equal prize money, but O'Reilly pushed hard for it. The organizers said there was an ongoing discussion about the prize money and eventually agreed that equal pay was the only way to go.
'Don't even do it at all if you're not going to do it equally,' O'Reilly said.
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O'Reilly is the driving force behind assembling the US Women team. She retired from professional soccer in 2019 but came back to fulfil her dream of playing the UEFA Champions League with Irish champions Shelbourne in the 2022-23 season. (Gotham FC also signed her as an Injury Replacement Player for a game in 2024.) Though she shifted to coaching in her post-playing years, O'Reilly never stopped jumping to lunchtime pick-up games when she could. When she heard TST was taking place in her backyard, she knew she had to play.
Last year, she recruited her longtime friend Lloyd, who was pregnant at the time, to coach. But this year, after welcoming her daughter Harper in October, the two-time FIFA Player of the Year is back on the field, fit and focused. The 42-year-old scored the winning goal for the US Women on Friday to make it to the semifinals over the weekend.
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Krieger is also on the squad. So are Allie Long, Amber Brooks, Cat Whitehill, Casey Loyd, Jill Loyden and Jo Lohman. Former USWNT midfielder and Bay FC co-founder Leslie Osborne is serving as an assistant coach, while Lori Lindsey is the team's general manager.
Solo entered her own team this year, Solo FC, falling to Ultrain FC in the quarterfinals. In that match, the former U.S. goalkeeper made a diving save reminiscent of those she made in World Cup and Olympic finals.
Knowing more opponents were joining the tournament this year, the US Women's preparation started early: Zoom calls, strategy sessions, and even custom workout plans were sent out weeks in advance.
'Every year, new teams come in better prepared,' O'Reilly said. 'Some of these coaches know this format inside-out.'
This year, O'Reilly added a handful of younger legs too, including University of North Carolina midfielder Evelyn Shores, who scored the game winner for the USWNT U-23 team in Germany last month.
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'You have to keep evolving, find those small margins. This game is different from 11-a-side,' O'Reilly said. 'Last year we lost our first game, and it was a real wake-up call.'
When the US Women won the tournament in 2024, each player took home around $50,000, while coaching and staff took in about half of that. 'That's not just gas money, that's tuition for kids' schools, a mortgage, real-life stuff,' O'Reilly said.
On Monday night, they will face off against Bumpy Pitch Women — a squad making its TST debut with a mix of former NWSL players like Ally Prisock, Katie Johnson, McCall Zerboni, as well as college talent, and European and Japanese pros — for the same $1 million prize.
From the start, the team's mission wasn't just to compete, it was to make a statement. They lobbied for equal prize money. They got it. Now they want more. 'There's so much brand value here,' she said. 'You've got U.S. legends, high-level soccer and an audience that's hungry. Sponsors should be lining up.'
Founded by TBT Enterprises, which also created The Basketball Tournament, TST has grown from a quirky offseason tournament into a potential model for a fast-paced version of soccer mostly consumed by younger fans. The tournament was unveiled in 2022 with 32 men's teams. TST added the women's tournament in 2024 and doubled the size of the women's side this year, expanding from eight to 16 teams after receiving more than 50 applications. The tournament signed a broadcast deal with ESPN and on the women's side, signed with RBC Wealth Management as the main sponsor.
Similar tournaments like the Kings and Queens League in Spain and World Sevens Football have followed in recent years. O'Reilly has had offers to play or coach in other tournaments, but for now, she is loyal to TST, a date she circles in her calendar every year.
'For me, TST is kind of the one time of the year, our annual time to get the band together,' she said. 'I wasn't expecting TST to even be in my life, and now it is. We'll see what the future brings. But it is an interesting idea. I think a lot of people are thinking, maybe this is the future of the sport in some way and that's amazing.'