Latest news with #NationalSoccerHallofFame
Los Angeles Times
03-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Not done yet: Christen Press embracing her role as Angel City's elder stateswoman
It doesn't seem that long ago that Christen Press was helping the national team to consecutive World Cup titles. She was unstoppable then, a key cog in the greatest women's soccer team in history. Yet she played her 155th and final match for the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics. It doesn't seem that long ago that Press, just 18 days removed from those Olympics, became the first player signed by expansion club Angel City. She was bringing the NWSL to her hometown and was being rewarded with what was then the richest contract in league history. Yet she's started just 10 games since then, losing most of the last three seasons to a stubborn anterior cruciate ligament injury that took four surgeries to repair. Press eventually will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, but she isn't ready for that trip just yet. If her body isn't always willing, her mind and her heart are still keen on the sport, so Press makes her most valuable contributions now in the quiet of the locker room. At 36, she has completed the transition from wunderkind to elder stateswoman. And on a Angel City team with 13 players under the age of 25, her presence is being felt. 'It's a different role. I wasn't that type of person,' said Press, who admits she has grown into the job. 'When I was 20 I didn't have a relationship with a senior player like they have with me. I'm enjoying the presence that I have with these young players.' Press has paid special attention to Alyssa Thompson, the 20-year-old Angel City player whose early career may be most reminiscent of her own, taking the locker next to Thompson in the team's spacious dressing room. Both are Southern California natives who played soccer and ran track in high school, led their teams to CIF titles and won national player of the year awards. Both committed to play for Stanford — Press went, Thompson didn't. But Thompson's career is just starting while Press is winding hers down. So the most valuable thing she can offer now is advice. 'The thing that I'm good at is scoring goals. It is an art and I love it,' Press said. 'I'm now kind of showing Alyssa how I trained to become a goal scorer. How you can think about goal-scoring in a very nuanced and methodical way. 'I'm learning as I teach her. I'm seeing the ways that she approaches it differently. It's just kind of a spirit of collaboration I see as a win-win for everybody.' Thompson agrees, saying she appreciates the chance to learn from a master. 'She's definitely my mentor,' Thompson said. 'She's entering a new era of her career and she still wants to continue to play and stuff like that. But when she's not playing, she's able to [offer] her guidance and support.' Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, the team's vice captain and, at 24, a key member of Angel City's youth movement, isn't sure Press fully appreciates the impact she's having. The extra work Press puts in with Thompson, for example, has also made Anderson better. 'After training she'll pull me aside and say 'Hey, Ang, can you stay? I'm going to play a few balls through for Alyssa.' That alone, dealing with such an elite finisher, is making me better obviously,' said Anderson, who was recently called up to the national team for the first time. 'She's probably had to change a lot; just her mindset and mentality going through her injury and being older. I think she's embraced her role and she seems like she's in a really healthy spot.' Listen to Press for a moment and the depth of her wisdom, experience and intelligence is obvious. But that doesn't exactly make her rare in the Angel City locker room. Ali Riley, Press' former Stanford teammate, and Scottish international Claire Emslie also have played on multiple continents and in multiple international championships and have become mentors to the team's younger players. 'I enjoy that,' Emslie said. 'I definitely find myself saying things to the younger players that I remember getting told and I think it's important to pass on that information and have those relationships. 'I want to help them as much as I can because they're going to go on and have even better and more successful careers. If I can help them along the way, it's rewarding.' That approach seems to be working. Angel City (4-4-2) is in playoff position through 10 games despite starting six players younger than 25. 'It's important to have experienced players like Christen around. Especially when you've got so many players that are so young and exciting and dynamic,' interim manager Sam Laity said. How long Press continues to do that in person is uncertain. The one-year contract extension she signed in January ends when the season does and she has a budding business empire to manage, one that includes a wildly entertaining podcast and a social entrepreneurship company founded with former USWNT teammates Megan Rapinoe, Meghan Klingenberg and Tobin Heath. But if her playing days are indeed numbered, she's enjoying those she has left. And that may be the most important lesson Professor Press passes on to her young students. 'There's only one thing I haven't done in soccer and that's enjoy it,' she said. 'All of my peers retired and I'm still here. I'm still given this gift of being able to appreciate it, play with gratitude, be a role model. And when I think about Angel City and my legacy, I think about 'wow, what an opportunity to show the next generation that this can — and should be — fun and rewarding and it's a gift that we get to chase greatness. 'The truth is the other things that I'm doing, from a career standpoint, are more lucrative than playing for Angel City this season. [But] there's no better job in the world. We get so wrapped up in winning and greatness and titles and trophies that sometimes we don't just get to be there. Like, I run around for my job. And I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to do so.' ⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week's episode of the 'Corner of the Galaxy' podcast.
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
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.'
Fox Sports
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
USWNT legend Carli Lloyd leads National Soccer Hall of Fame's 2025 class
Carli Lloyd took her place among the greats on Saturday, when she was formally inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas. The 42-year-old Lloyd, who led the United States women's national team to two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals and who was twice named by FIFA as the best women's player on the planet, was elected in a first-ballot landslide. Lloyd was enshrined on Saturday along with longtime Major Leage Soccer deputy commissioner Mark Abbot, former USMNT standouts Chris Armas and Nick Rimando and former goalkeeper Mary Harvey, who won a World Cup and an Olympic gold with the USWNT in the 1990s. Legendary broadcaster Bob Ley was also inducted but missed the ceremony because of a knee injury. All of them are fully worthy of the honor. Lloyd, however, was the clear headliner of the class of 2025. Once famously cut by the U.S. under-20 team, the New Jersey native and Rutgers University alum re-dedicated herself to her sport and turned herself into one of the greatest players of all time. Despite spending much of her 17-year international career as a midfielder, her 134 goals rank six all-time at the highest level, men's or women's. Lloyd scored the winning goal for her country at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and netted an unforgettable hat trick in the 2015 Women's World Cup final, snapping a 16-year title drought for the most successful program in history. Only two players, men or women, appeared in more international matches than Lloyd's 316. "There was no greater honor than wearing the red, white and blue," Lloyd said on Saturday. Along the way, Lloyd's relentless quest for greatness became lore. It had a darker side, though. Her dedication to her craft was all-consuming. Sometimes it rubbed teammates the wrong way. She was estranged from her parents and siblings for more than a decade after letting "a trainer into my life that over time created a wedge between me and my family," she said. "I just was constantly grinding away," Lloyd told FOX Sports last month. "I had this addiction of just knowing that I had to, and could, improve in so many different ways as a player." Soccer came before everything — before her husband, Brian Hollins, and before her lifelong dream of becoming a mother. On Saturday, Lloyd called the birth of her daughter, Harper, six months ago her "greatest accomplishment." Before giving her speech, Steve Lloyd, Carli's father, introduced his daughter at the dais and fitted her into the red blazer that all Hall of Fame inductees receive. "It was important for all of us to be here this weekend," said Steve, who was joined in suburban Dallas by Carli's mother Pam, sister Ashley and brother Stephen. "What makes it so much more special is that it was so important for Carli to have us here." An emotional Lloyd then took center stage. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say today," she said. "I knew I didn't need to stand up here and talk about how much I love the game, or how hard I worked. Most of you already know that about me. What I wanted to share wasn't from a perspective of a competitor, but as a person, a human being." "I wish I had let more people understand me over the years," 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 always able to give you all of me." Still, Lloyd insisted that she has no regrets. "As lonely and difficult as the journey was at times, I would do it all over again," she said. "Yes, it was extremely hard. There were countless sacrifices along the way, but every bit of it was worth it because I loved the game. "There was nothing I loved more than winning," Lloyd added. "But winning comes at a cost, and I paid that price. Yet in return I gained more than I ever could've imagined." Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ ByDougMcIntyre . Get more from United States Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carli Lloyd apologizes to USWNT teammates in vulnerable National Soccer Hall of Fame speech
Former U.S. women's national team star Carli Lloyd was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday. In her speech, the two-time World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist acknowledged the cost of success and apologized to her former teammates for being distant. '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, donning her new red Hall of Fame blazer. 'I avoided unnecessary drama. I rarely showed weakness, and vulnerability wasn't something I allowed myself to express. 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. Advertisement '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 always able to give you all of me.' The 42-year-old, who was inducted in her first year of eligibility as part of the 2025 class, gave a 20-minute speech reflecting on her expansive career, sharing a vulnerable side rarely seen throughout her 17 years on the pitch. 'I finally had the space to truly reflect on my career,' Lloyd said, pausing to settle her emotions. 'I knew I didn't need to stand up here and talk about how much I loved the game or how hard I worked. Most of you already know that about me. What I wanted to share wasn't from a perspective of a competitor, but as a person, a human being, and what I kept coming back to again and again was one simple question, was it all worth it?' Advertisement Lloyd retired in 2021, ending her playing career with her hometown club, NJ/NY Gotham FC, in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She is considered one of the most impactful players in USWNT history. She is best remembered for her performance in the 2015 World Cup final against Japan, in which her 16-minute hat-trick led the U.S. to its first World Cup title in 16 years. Her third goal is one of her most iconic. In her speech, Lloyd reflected on her love of winning, which often cost her relationships with those around her. 'There was nothing I loved more than winning but winning comes at a cost, and I paid that price,' Lloyd said, 'Yet in return, I gained more than I ever could have imagined. Soccer provided me with the tools to conquer anything that life throws my way.' She alluded to the controversial moments, both professional and personal: from the snubs that fueled her, to the trainer who drove a wedge between her family and her — a relationship that was later repaired. Advertisement Lloyd's acceptance included a nod to her six-month-old daughter, Harper, whom she called her 'greatest accomplishment.' Lloyd and her husband, Brian, welcomed Harper in October after struggles with unexplained infertility. '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. 'Being her mom is my greatest joy, and thanks to everything I experienced in my career, I now have the tools to help her navigate this world. I want to teach her how to be strong, to chase her dreams and to understand that nothing in life is handed to you, you earn it.' Lloyd was inducted into the 2025 class alongside another USWNT great, Mary Harvey, who was the goalkeeper on the 1991 World Cup-winning team. Advertisement While Harvey's playing career was brief by today's standards, the seasoned soccer executive has been involved in World Cup bids, founded U.S. Soccer's Athletes' Council and held key roles with Women's Professional Soccer as well as FIFA. She is currently the CEO of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights. Harvey is credited with inspiring the U.S. culture of giving back through sport. That was most evident with her role in introducing her former teammate and current U.S. Soccer president, Cindy Parlow Cone, to the power of sport governance by bringing her to her first Athlete Council meeting when she was only 17 years old. 'Sport is one of society's great social inventions, and has so much to offer us all, and clearly, it has left an indelible positive imprint on my life and led me to a career path dedicated to the impact and purpose that I never expected,' Harvey said. 'Part of that journey has been to be, and continue to be, an agent of change, make it better for those who come after you, which is what we said way back then.' The 2025 Hall of Fame class also includes Mark Abbott, the former MLS Deputy Commissioner, Chris Armas, head coach of the Colorado Rapids, and former U.S. men's goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Advertisement This article originally appeared in The Athletic. US Women's national team, Gotham FC, Soccer, NWSL 2025 The Athletic Media Company
