Latest news with #CarliLloyd
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Poarch Returns To The Scene Of His Greatest Triumph, At The TST
On Wednesday, the highly anticipated The Soccer Tournament kicks off in Cary, North Carolina. The $1 million winner-take-all 7 v 7 competition for men and women will bring together former players and personalities from the beautiful game and in the sports world as well. Here are some of the movers and shakers who are expected to participate in the third-year tourney: Carli Lloyd. Michelle Akers. Hope Solo. Sergio Aguero. Geoff Cameron. Brek Shea. And Chad Poarch. Wait, let's back up just a minute. Chad Poarch? Just who is this Chad Poarch? Well, he is the player who scored the winning goal for La Bombonera in last year's final as he and his teammates split the million-dollar prize money. Poarch (pronounced porch) is back with another team - CONCAFA Soccer Club - as he tries to make it two titles in as many years. He is looking forward to the event, on and off the pitch. "I'm excited, man," he said. Last year he excited about meeting NBA great Chris Paul and former NFL wide receiver Chad (Ochocinco) Johnson. "I'm excited to meet all the celebrities and the guys who have already had successful careers, whatever they have," he added. "So that should be great." Of course, Poarch isn't going to be a paparazzi. He plans on having another memorable experience on the field at WakeMed Soccer Park. "I'm just looking forward to playing in that tournament, a professionally run tournament again, especially what they do with the media," he said. "This being the third year for TST hosting a tournament, I expect the competition is going to be better than the last two years.' Poarch's story, before and after the tournament, is two divergent tales. Prior to that competition, he had struggled to find a professional soccer team. Poarch attended High Point University and then the University of Delaware before deciding to pursue a pro career. That included tryouts in Portugal, Atlanta United and stints in the National Premier Soccer League, USL League Two and USL Championship. "I've been through some stuff," he said. But that all changed in Cary. Not only did he play well, the 5-11, 180-lb. Poarch received national publicity for connecting on the tournament-winning goal and an opportunity to play for the indoor Baltimore Blast in the Major Arena Soccer League. With that in mind, let's return to the TST final against Nani FC on June 10, 2024. Yes, that Nani, the former Portuguese international. Tournament officials ruled that the first team that reached four goals would win the title (the competition's rules are quite different from the rest of the sport). With La Bombonera leading 3-0, Poarch put a tough tackle on Nani, winning a 50-50 ball in his team's defensive zone. Racing into the penalty area on a 2-on-1 break, he launched a right-footed shot from the top of the box that nestled into the lower left corner to lift his team to the title. LA BOMBONERA DEFEAT NANI FC TO WIN TST 2024 🏆 CHAD POARCH SCORES $1M GOAL 💰 | TST "I was able to read the goalkeeper's pass," Poarch said. "As soon as I picked it off, I saw nothing but green grass in front. As soon as I got the ball, it just went silent. It was like a movie. He [the goalkeeper] "After I scored, man, it was like all the relief, all the pressure, everything just was taken off my shoulders, and then obviously we're celebrating with family and friends. It was a whirlwind. Unforgettable." Poarch's story hardly ends there. Blast player Oumar Sylla had told head coach David Bascome that Poarch was one of the players that he should watch at the tournament. Bascome was impressed with Poarch, who had scored five goals, and offered him a contract. "Fortunately for me, I had a good showing last year," Poarch said. 'I benefited from it." Just as he did at the TST, Poarch made the most of his opportunity with the Blast. As a defender, he scored 23 goals in as many regular season games, not bad for a forward, excellent for a defender. He added 10 assists and was voted the MASL newcomer of the year. Poarch, 27, called his past 12 months "a whirlwind experience." "It's been a great year for me as a player," he added. "I've been through a lot as a player, so like, it just feels good to finally get like recognition for doing well and achieving these great achievements. I've been super thankful and grateful for every opportunity that has come my way. I'm looking forward to the future. I'm trying to stay as much in the moment as possible and just take every opportunity as they come." His next opportunity will be to win the tournament with his new team. The CONCAFA Soccer Club, coached by former U.S. men's international goalkeeper Tony Meola, has some players who you might recognize. The higher profile players include former U.S. internationals Cameron and Shea, one-time New York Red Bulls standout Mike Grella and former Iraqi international and Columbus Crew star Justin Meram. For those indoor soccer aficionados, there's MASL all-stars Derek Huffman and Mario Alvarez (Milwaukee Wave), Gordy Gurson (Utica City FC), Zach Reget and Phillip Ejimadu Kansas City Comets) and Drew Ruggles (San Diego Sockers). ESPN analyst Pat McAfee is also on the team. Poarch said that the team had a "good atmosphere and good people to be around." Given the publicity the tournament has received in its short two-year existence, more serious players have wanted to participate. So, finding a pathway to the final has become that more difficult. "Obviously, the goal is to win the tournament," Poarch said. "I want to play well. I've been training and getting as fit as possible since the Blast season ended. For us to go all the way, and then for me to go back-to-back and win TST again will be phenomenal." If CONCAFA prevails, Poarch said that he will use his prize money in some practical ways, such as paying off his student loan, continue saving that he could buy a house and invest in his soccer training business. And even go on vacation. "Good things," he said. "To win a tournament will create a big boost for me in those areas," he said. And create some more history and perhaps another opportunity for Chad Poarch.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carli Lloyd apologizes to former USWNT teammates for being ‘emotionless machine'
It's been almost four years since Carli Lloyd announced her retirement as a player, and it appears to have been a transformative time for the two-time World Cup champion. In a speech at her induction to the US Soccer Hall of Fame on Sunday, Lloyd struck a different tone than the one she used so often throughout her playing career, apologizing to her teammates for not being fully present as she single-mindedly pursued her goals as a player. Saying she 'wasn't there to make friends' and that she 'avoided unnecessary drama,' Lloyd was well known by the end of her career for her steely demeanor that ran counter to some of her era's more outgoing personalities like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. Related: Lessons from the USWNT's Brazil friendlies: Thompson's a star and a keeper dilemma 'I'm sorry I wasn't always able to give you all of me,' Lloyd said on Sunday, addressing her former teammates. 'I wouldn't say I have regrets, but if there's one thing I do wish, I wish I had let more people understand me over the years. I operated like an emotionless machine. I was intense and I truly believe that the only way for me to survive in such a cut-throat environment was to be that way.' Lloyd was well-known for her intense dedication to training and improving as a player, to the point to where she cut herself off not just from teammates but also her family. Lloyd told the crowd in Frisco, Texas that the years since her retirement have given her a new perspective, especially with the birth of her first child, a daughter named Harper. 'I always knew I wanted a child, but I had no idea how this little baby could completely change me as a person,' Lloyd said. 'Unlike during my playing career, I have been present. I have allowed myself to be vulnerable, emotional, and fully engaged in every moment I get to spend with her.' Lloyd, who appeared to get choked up at a few points during her speech, apologized to her parents and siblings for lost time and the weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and other milestones missed. Many of these absences came while Lloyd was working with James Galanis, a personal trainer she hired in 2003 to improve her game. Lloyd cut ties with Galanis in 2020, and in recent years has spoken about the coach's wide-ranging influence over her life, including cutting her off from contact with family. Related: Quiet rise of rookies shows benefit of NWSL's bold decision to ditch draft Lloyd summed up her post-retirement state of mind with a series of questions posed near the beginning of her speech: 'Was it worth allowing a trainer into my life that over time drove a wedge between me and my family for over a decade? Was it worth putting my husband second? Was it worth being so obsessive, so intense every day of my soccer career? Was it worth putting off starting a family?' In the end, though, the answer seemed to be yes. 'As lonely and difficult as the journey was at times, I would do it all over again,' she said. 'There was nothing I loved more than winning, but winning comes at a cost, and I paid that price.' Lloyd was inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot for which she was available, garnering 47 out of 48 votes. She was selected alongside former Real Salt Lake and USMNT goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the players' category. Former USWNT goalkeeper Mary Harvey and USMNT midfielder Chris Armas were inducted on the 'veteran' ballot, while former MLS president Mark Abbott was selected on the 'builder' ballot.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
USWNT's Carli Lloyd reflects on her new perspective following National Soccer Hall of Fame speech
Carli Lloyd had six months to figure out her National Soccer Hall of Fame speech. However, since fellow Hall of Famer Alexi Lalas told her she would be a first-ballot inductee during a surprise visit at her home in New Jersey, she has worked to find just the right words. Her speech at the induction ceremony on Saturday was surprisingly unguarded for a player who had built her entire professional persona around her aloof strength. It was a rare moment of vulnerability that almost didn't happen. Advertisement 'I wanted to stand up there and not explain to people, but just show people that this is all of the things that were going through my mind in my professional career,' Lloyd told . 'This is everything that I had to deal with, that I had to navigate from a human standpoint.' Call it whatever you want — explaining, showing — Lloyd revealed more on that stage in Frisco, Texas, than she ever has before. She grappled with many of the same ideas during her final months as a player: What it took to make it to multiple World Cups and Olympics and the cost of a single-minded focus on soccer. 'Everything that I do and say comes from my heart,' Lloyd said, 'whether that's the popular thing or the not-so-popular thing to say. I don't say things for clicks or for likes or for people to write about me. Everything is what I'm feeling in that particular moment.' That's Lloyd, to a T. She hasn't changed, not really. We're just seeing a little more of her these days. Advertisement 'I'm not all of a sudden a new Carli Lloyd,' she said. 'I was that person pre-professional career, and then had that professional career of just going into another zone for 17 years, of being that person, that emotionless machine. 'That was my fight or flight. That was my way of surviving. I didn't want to let people in, and I didn't want to. I couldn't necessarily trust people. People would chop you up. That's just how I felt. So maybe that's why fans, the media and some of my teammates and coaches had that reluctance with me, of really not understanding me.' Lloyd has grappled with this tension of wanting to be understood before. In 2021, during her final days as a professional athlete, she told , 'What people don't understand is to reach the heights that I have, I almost had to be emotionless.' She compared it to fight or flight then too, and spoke about being emotionally numb. Advertisement There's more clarity now, though, almost four years on. Lloyd's still a runner, and she used the alone time on her runs to get her thoughts in order, including preparing a mental draft of the speech: 'My love for the game, and all that stuff,' she said, calling it obvious. 'I love the game. I work hard. I do this, I do that. Everybody knows that about me.' She was on a flight when she realized what she wanted to accomplish with her speech. She started writing it in her notes app: 'Was it all worth it?' 'That was something that I really wanted to share because I've never spoken about it,' Lloyd said. 'You know me, I was never vulnerable. I've never shown any type of weakness.' In that same 2021 interview, she was asked if she was happy — a related, but fundamentally different, question from whether it had all been worth it. Advertisement 'What I kept coming back to again and again was one simple question,' Lloyd began in her speech before a litany of questions to her past self. 'Was it all worth it? Was it worth dedicating my entire youth to soccer? Was it worth being so ruthless on myself when things didn't go well? Was it worth having my life be consumed by the game? Was it worth the guilt of taking time off, or feeling like I hadn't trained enough? Was it worth all the sacrifices — missing funerals, birthdays, holidays, weddings and other important milestones? Was it worth allowing a trainer into my life that, over time, created a wedge between me and my family for over a decade?' At this question, a moment of levity interrupted: Lloyd's six-month-old daughter let out a happy squeal in the audience. 'Thank you, Harper,' Lloyd said with a smile. 'Was it worth putting my husband second? Was it worth being so intense, so obsessed every single day of my career? Was it worth not allowing myself to fully enjoy some of the most meaningful moments, out of fear that I might slip backwards? And the biggest question of all: was it worth putting off starting a family?' Advertisement Lloyd's rift with her family has been well documented, a 12-year estrangement that came to a close when she cut ties with her long-time personal trainer James Galanis. The shutdown prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic helped her hit pause and opened her eyes. 'The control, the manipulation, the brainwashing, driving a wedge through my family. All of these things that I didn't see or I didn't have the opportunity for life to slow down for me to see, I saw it all. I was going back and back, and the person you trust with your life, you think someone that is in your life for that long is going to do right by you, and it was the total opposite,' Lloyd said about Galanis in an episode of Kickin' It in 2023. Only four years before, in an article for The Players' Tribune, Lloyd had detailed how Galanis had become her personal coach in the wake of being cut from the U.S. youth national team before a minor international tournament in 2003. 'I'll train you free and won't charge your parents anything,' Lloyd recounted Galanis saying at the start of their relationship. 'But you have to dedicate your entire life to this. If I call you at 10 p.m. on a Saturday, and I tell you to come to the field, are you going to come?' For years, she did. 'The truth is,' Lloyd said in her Hall of Fame speech, 'the path of a professional athlete can be incredibly lonely.' Advertisement Even her mother, Lloyd said, hadn't fully understood what she had struggled with throughout her career, how deeply she had felt the sacrifices. 'It felt freeing,' Lloyd said this week. 'It felt so good to be standing up there, on my terms, in one of the biggest moments of my career, being able to share.' In some ways, the boundaries between Lloyd the person and Lloyd the player have collapsed, but mostly she is not afraid of any consequences anymore — even if, for years, they probably wouldn't have happened, or worse, been self-imposed. Lloyd called herself a 'black sheep' of the USWNT plenty of times over the years, but she revisited one of the early moments in her national team career this week — the fallout from the 2007 World Cup goalkeeping selection by then head coach Greg Ryan — as a defining moment. Advertisement The short version: Hope Solo had started the first four games of the tournament but Ryan made the call to start Briana Scurry in the semifinal against Brazil, and the USWNT lost 4-0. Solo criticized the decision in public comments after the match. Lloyd was still new to the team; she's entirely uninterested in litigating who was right and who was wrong, but on the human level, she felt sad for Solo. 'Everyone shunned Hope. We didn't allow her in the team meal. We didn't allow her to fly home with us. Nobody stood next to her in a pool recovery workout. We're talking about some public comments, but that was the length of it,' Lloyd said. She felt awful, seeing Solo without any support network. So she supported her, because she felt like it was the right thing to do. But she still feels like that sets her apart from the rest of the team. 'I became the person that didn't follow the crowd, and didn't support everybody else,' Lloyd said. Maybe it was self-inflicted, she noted, but that's where she started thinking she was on the outs with the USWNT. Teammates looked at her differently, and the coaching staff handled her a little more hesitantly. The barrier came up as protection. 'I just need to figure out how I'm going to survive and perform and help my team without draining any other ounce of my mental energy on anything else.' Advertisement Lloyd felt every slight, real or perceived, coming her way. She was never good enough. She didn't play well enough. She had to prove people wrong. None of this will be all that surprising to people who have watched her through the years, but she's had more time to reflect on it. 'I wouldn't say I have regrets,' Lloyd said in her Hall of Fame speech, 'but if there's one thing I do wish, I wish I had let more people understand me. Over the years, I operated like an emotionless machine. I was intense, and I truly believe that the only way for me to survive in such a cutthroat environment was to be that way. So to my teammates, I want to say this: I'm sorry I wasn't always able to give you all of me.' A few days later, she did say that by the end, she had let in more teammates — when she was benched later in her career, there were a few that also saw her in a deeply emotional state. But this wasn't an apology where she was expecting people to text her after or anything. 'I just wanted to address — not necessarily the elephant in the room — but maybe certain teammates that didn't understand why I was the way that I was.' Advertisement She pointed out several times that she has no ill-will towards anyone in the U.S. program — she was never angry at teammates, she said, she was just trying to survive. 'Whatever comes of it is awesome,' she said. 'We all had our unique journeys. I'm open to anything.' There are certainly more conversations for Lloyd to have on that front, but maybe that apology opened the door a bit further. After all, what's more human than wanting to be understood, even as the barriers to being known are of your own making? The twist is that Lloyd has changed. 'We are so blessed to have Harper. She is my greatest accomplishment. I always knew I wanted a child, but I had no idea how this little baby could completely change me as a person. Unlike during my playing career, I have been present. I have allowed myself to be vulnerable, emotional and fully engaged in every moment I get to spend with her.' Advertisement So, yes, in the end, it worth it. Sporting her new red Hall of Fame blazer, her family in the audience, Harper watching on, Lloyd was ready to do it all over again if it got her to this moment. 'There was nothing I loved more than winning, but winning comes at a cost. I paid that price, yet in return, I gained more than I ever could have imagined.' This article originally appeared in The Athletic. US Women's national team, Soccer, NWSL 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
USWNT's Carli Lloyd reflects on her new perspective following National Soccer Hall of Fame speech
Carli Lloyd had six months to work out her National Soccer Hall of Fame speech. However, ever since fellow Hall of Famer Alexi Lalas told her she would be a first-ballot inductee, in a surprise visit at her home in New Jersey, she has worked to find just the right words. Her speech at the induction ceremony on Saturday was surprisingly unguarded for a player who had built her entire professional persona around her aloof strength. It was a rare moment of vulnerability that almost didn't happen. 'I wanted to stand up there and not explain to people, but just show people that this is all of the things that were going through my mind in my professional career,' Lloyd told The Athletic . 'This is everything that I had to deal with, that I had to navigate from a human standpoint.' Call it whatever you want — explaining, showing — Lloyd revealed more on that stage in Frisco, Texas, than she ever has before. She grappled with many of the same ideas during her final months as a player: what it took to make it to multiple World Cups and Olympics and the cost of a single-minded focus on soccer. 'Everything that I do and say comes from my heart,' Lloyd said, 'whether that's the popular thing or the not-so-popular thing to say. I don't say things for clicks or for likes or for people to write about me. Everything is what I'm feeling in that particular moment.' That's Lloyd, to a T. She hasn't changed, not really. We're just seeing a little more of her these days. 'I'm not all of a sudden a new Carli Lloyd,' she said. 'I was that person pre-professional career. And then had that professional career of just going into another zone for 17 years, of just being that person, that machine, that emotionless machine. 'That was my fight or flight. That was my way of surviving. I didn't want to let people in, and I didn't want to… I couldn't necessarily trust people. I felt like sometimes the environment was an environment where people would chop you up. That's just how I felt. So I think that's why fans and maybe the media and maybe some of my teammates and coaches just maybe had that reluctance with me, of really not understanding me.' Lloyd has grappled with this tension of wanting to be understood before. In 2021, during her final days as a professional athlete, she told The Athletic , 'I think what people don't understand is to reach the heights that I have, I almost had to be emotionless.' She compared it to fight or flight then too, and spoke about being emotionally numb. There's more clarity now, though, almost four years on. Lloyd's still a runner, and she used the alone time on her runs to get her thoughts in order, including preparing a mental draft of the speech: 'My love for the game, and all that stuff,' she said, calling it obvious. 'I love the game. I work hard. I do this, I do that. Everybody knows that about me.' She was on a flight when she realized what she wanted to accomplish with her speech. She started writing it in her notes app: 'Was it all worth it?' 'That was something that I really wanted to share because I've never spoken about it,' Lloyd said. 'You know me, I was never vulnerable. I've never shown any type of weakness.' In that same 2021 interview, she was asked if she was happy — a related, but fundamentally different, question from whether it had all been worth it. 'What I kept coming back to again and again was one simple question,' Lloyd began in her speech before a litany of questions to her past self. ''Was it all worth it?'. Was it worth dedicating my entire youth to soccer? Was it worth being so ruthless on myself when things didn't go well? Was it worth having my life be consumed by the game? Was it worth the guilt of taking time off, or feeling like I hadn't trained enough? Was it worth all the sacrifices — missing funerals, birthdays, holidays, weddings and other important milestones? Was it worth allowing a trainer into my life that, over time, created a wedge between me and my family for over a decade?' At this question, a moment of levity interrupted: Lloyd's six-month-old daughter let out a happy squeal in the audience. 'Thank you, Harper,' Lloyd said with a smile. 'Was it worth putting my husband second? Was it worth being so intense, so obsessed every single day of my career? Was it worth not allowing myself to fully enjoy some of the most meaningful moments, out of fear that I might slip backwards? And the biggest question of all: was it worth putting off starting a family?' Lloyd's rift with her family has been well documented, a 12-year estrangement that came to a close when she cut ties with her long-time personal trainer James Galanis. The shutdown prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic helped her hit pause and opened her eyes. 'The control, the manipulation, the brainwashing, driving a wedge through my family. All of these things that I didn't see or I didn't have the opportunity for life to slow down for me to see, I saw it all. I was going back and back, and the person you trust with your life, you think someone that is in your life for that long is going to do right by you, and it was the total opposite,' Lloyd said about Galanis in an episode of Kickin' It in 2023. Only four years before, in an article for The Players' Tribune, Lloyd had detailed how Galanis had become her personal coach in the wake of being cut from the U.S. youth national team ahead of a minor international tournament in 2003. 'I'll train you free and won't charge your parents anything,' Lloyd recounted Galanis saying at the start of their relationship. 'But you have to dedicate your entire life to this. If I call you at 10 p.m. on a Saturday, and I tell you to come to the field, are you going to come?' For years, she did. 'The truth is,' Lloyd said in her Hall of Fame speech, 'the path of a professional athlete can be incredibly lonely.' Even her mother, Lloyd said, hadn't fully understood what she had struggled with throughout her career, how deeply she had felt the sacrifices. 'It felt freeing,' Lloyd said this week. 'It felt so good to be standing up there, on my terms, in one of the biggest moments of my career, being able to share.' In some ways, the boundaries between Lloyd the person and Lloyd the player have collapsed, but mostly she is not afraid of any consequences anymore — even if, for years, they probably wouldn't have happened, or worse, been self-imposed. Lloyd called herself a 'black sheep' of the USWNT plenty of times over the years, but she revisited one of the early moments in her national team career this week — the fallout from the 2007 World Cup goalkeeping selection by then head coach Greg Ryan — as a defining moment. The short version: Hope Solo had started the first four games of the tournament but Ryan made the call to start Briana Scurry in the semifinal against Brazil, and the USWNT lost 4-0. Solo criticized the decision in public comments after the match. Lloyd was still new to the team; she's entirely uninterested in litigating who was right and who was wrong, but on the human level, she felt sad for Solo. 'Everyone shunned Hope. We didn't allow her in the team meal. We didn't allow her to fly home with us. Nobody stood next to her in a pool recovery workout. We're talking about some public comments, but that was the length of it,' Lloyd said. She felt awful, seeing Solo without any support network. So she supported her, because she felt like it was the right thing to do. But she still feels like that sets her apart from the rest of the team. 'I became the person that didn't follow the crowd, and didn't support everybody else,' Lloyd said. Maybe it was self-inflicted, she noted, but that's where she started thinking she was on the outs with the USWNT. Teammates looked at her differently, and the coaching staff handled her a little more hesitantly. The barrier came up as protection. 'I just need to figure out how I'm going to survive and perform and help my team without draining any other ounce of my mental energy on anything else.' Lloyd felt every slight, real or perceived, coming her way. She was never good enough. She didn't play well enough. She had to prove people wrong. None of this will be all that surprising to people who have watched her through the years, but she's had more time to reflect on it. 'I wouldn't say I have regrets,' Lloyd said in her Hall of Fame speech, 'but if there's one thing I do wish, I wish I had let more people understand me. Over the years, I operated like an emotionless machine. I was intense, and I truly believe that the only way for me to survive in such a cutthroat environment was to be that way. So to my teammates, I want to say this: I'm sorry I wasn't always able to give you all of me.' A few days later, she did say that by the end, she had let in more teammates — when she was benched later in her career, there were a few that also saw her in a deeply emotional state. But this wasn't an apology where she was expecting people to text her after or anything. 'I just wanted to address — not necessarily the elephant in the room — but maybe certain teammates that didn't understand why I was the way that I was.' She pointed out several times that she has no ill-will towards anyone in the U.S. program — she was never angry at teammates, she said, she was just trying to survive. 'Whatever comes of it is awesome,' she said. 'We all had our unique journeys. I'm open to anything.' There are certainly more conversations for Lloyd to have on that front, but maybe that apology opened the door a bit further. After all, what's more human than wanting to be understood, even as the barriers to being known are of your own making? The twist is that Lloyd has changed. 'We are so blessed to have Harper. She is my greatest accomplishment. I always knew I wanted a child, but I had no idea how this little baby could completely change me as a person. Unlike during my playing career, I have been present. I have allowed myself to be vulnerable, emotional and fully engaged in every moment I get to spend with her.' So yes. In the end, it was worth it. Sporting her new red Hall of Fame blazer, her family in the audience, Harper watching on, Lloyd was ready to do it all over again if it got her to this moment. 'There was nothing I loved more than winning, but winning comes at a cost. I paid that price, yet in return, I gained more than I ever could have imagined.' (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Will Tullus)
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Carli Lloyd talks about cost of winning in Hall of Fame speech
On Saturday, former U.S. Women's National Team star Carli Lloyd was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame alongside former USMNT players Chris Armas and Nick Rimando, former USWNT goalkeeper Mary Harvey and former MLS deputy commissioner Mark Abbott. Lloyd is considered one of the all-time best American soccer players, and has two Olympic gold medals and two World Cup titles, among other accolades, according to the National Soccer Hall of Fame's website. But during Saturday's ceremony, Lloyd didn't talk about the awards she received or the goals she scored. Advertisement Instead, she apologized for what her relentless pursuit of winning cost her and her teammates. The cost of winning 'What I wanted to share wasn't from a perspective of a competitor, but as a person, a human being and what I kept going back to again and again was one simple question: Was it all worth it?' Lloyd said on Saturday, according to Pro Soccer Wire. The now-42-year-old has been wondering if she should have made as many sacrifices as she did during her career. 'I wasn't there to make friends or follow the crowd. I was there to push myself to the very top while helping my team win championships. That drive often meant keeping people at a distance,' Lloyd said, according to The Athletic. Advertisement She continued: 'I operated like an emotionless machine. I was intense and I truly believed that the only way for me to survive in such a cutthroat environment was to be that way. So to my teammates, I want to say this: I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you all of me.' And Lloyd's apologies didn't stop there. In her speech, she also expressed her sincere apologies to her siblings and parents, saying that she was sorry for the years they lost together. She said she knows she can't get those years back, but added that what they have done since has been 'the most meaningful gift' to her, The Inquirer reported. Before her first Olympics in 2008, Lloyd experienced 'a painful separation' from her parents, Steve and Pam, due to the actions of a trainer. The separation left wounds that weren't mended until 2020, during the pandemic, the article said. Despite the sacrifices she made and the challenges she faced, Lloyd said on Saturday that she has no regrets about her decorated career. Advertisement 'As lonely and difficult as the journey was at times, I would do it all over again,' she said, according to Pro Soccer Wire. 'There was nothing I loved more than winning, but winning comes at a cost and I paid that price. Yet in return I gained more than I ever could have imagined.' But she noted that she does have one wish. 'I wouldn't say I have regrets, but if there is one thing I do wish, I wish I had let more people understand me over the years,' Lloyd said, per The Athletic. A future off the pitch Among the audience members on Saturday was Lloyd's six-month-old daughter, Harper, whom Lloyd described as her 'greatest accomplishment' after struggling with unexplained infertility, according to The Athletic. 'I always knew I wanted a child, but I had no idea how this little baby completely changed me as a person,' she said, per The Inquirer. 'I have allowed myself to be vulnerable, emotional, and fully engaged in every moment I get to spend with her. Being her mom is my greatest joy.' Advertisement Lloyd said her soccer career gave her the tools to teach Harper 'how to be strong, to chase her dreams and to understand that nothing in life is handed to you, you earn it,' reported The Athletic. She told the young players who still look up to her to appreciate the journey and embrace challenges that come. She also expressed the hope that they might strive to do one thing that she didn't, The Inquirer reported. 'Cherish the relationships you build along the way,' she said. 'This game will eventually end, but the impact you have on those around you and the lessons you carry with you will last a lifetime.'
