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Carli Lloyd retired from professional soccer in November following a stellar career in which she won two Olympic gold medals two World Cup titles for the U.S. national team.
While Lloyd competed for the main U.S. team since 2005, she admitted in a recent interview with former teammate Hope Solo on her podcast “Hope Solo Speaks” she wasn’t a fan of the culture change within in the team in her final few years.
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(L-R) Heather O’Reilly #9, Julie Johnson #8, Hope Solo #1 and Carli Lloyd #10 of the United States watch a video tribute to Solo after she posted her 100th career shutout against South Africa in a friendly match at Soldier Field on July 9, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois. The United States defeated South Africa 1-0. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
“Even within our squad, the culture has changed. It was really tough and challenging to play these last several years,” Lloyd said. “To be quite honest, I hated it. It wasn’t fun going in. It was only for love of the game, really, for me. I wanted to win and wanted to help the team, but the culture within the team was the worst I had ever seen it. So, I’m hoping that the future is bright and some things change.”
Lloyd didn’t specify what she hated. The snippet of the interview was released Tuesday, and the full episode is set to drop Wednesday.
Solo, whose contract with the U.S. national team was terminated following the 2016 Olympics, empathized with Lloyd’s feelings. Solo said she wanted to be in camp to train and win games when she was with the team but hated the social and political aspect of it.
USA goalkeeper Hope Solo (left), and teammate Carli Lloyd during team national anthems before the USA vs. Colombia Women’s International friendly football match at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium on April 6, 2016, in East Hartford, Connecticut. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
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“It’s tough. I just wanted to be a professional athlete. I wanted to be cutthroat and I wanted to win. But you still have to play the political and social game sometimes. That’s hard for an introvert like myself. It was really difficult,” she said.
Recently, Solo was critical of the U.S. women’s national team for settling with U.S. Soccer over its discrimination dispute. U.S. Soccer agreed to pay women’s soccer $24 million. The $22 million will be split among the players and U.S. Soccer agreed to establish a fund with the remaining $2 million to benefit players in their post-soccer careers and charitable efforts aimed at growing the sport for women.
United States forward Carli Lloyd waves to fans after a soccer friendly match against South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King)
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In an Instagram post, Solo said Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan were the two most agreeable with U.S. Soccer and “continue to accept terms that are nowhere near what we set out to do.”
The players agreed to about one-third of what they sought out in damages.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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