With the announcement of Carli Lloyd’s retirement on Monday came plenty of reactions.
One of the best to ever do it, she’s played with more than 100 teammates throughout her USWNT career.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup winner Heather O’Reilly extended her congratulations to her former USWNT teammate.
“An absolute beast,” she wrote.
I will never forget halftime of the 2015 final. We went into the locker room and I whispered to Carli. “Dude, you just scored a hat trick in a World Cup final. And one was from midfield. What in the actual…” She smiled and then her eyes got serious again. An absolute beast. https://t.co/zTqtzLd3UX— Heather O'Reilly (@HeatherOReilly) August 16, 2021
I will never forget halftime of the 2015 final. We went into the locker room and I whispered to Carli. “Dude, you just scored a hat trick in a World Cup final. And one was from midfield. What in the actual…” She smiled and then her eyes got serious again. An absolute beast. https://t.co/zTqtzLd3UX
Legendary forward Mia Hamm also congratulated Lloyd on an “amazing career.”
“You approached every challenge and game as an opportunity to set new standards in order to make your team and the game better,” she wrote.
Congrats @CarliLloyd on an amazing career. You approached every challenge and game as an opportunity to set new standards in order to make your team and the game better. Forever grateful.— Mia Hamm (@MiaHamm) August 16, 2021
Congrats @CarliLloyd on an amazing career. You approached every challenge and game as an opportunity to set new standards in order to make your team and the game better. Forever grateful.
Teammate Megan Rapinoe appeared on SportsCenter where she revealed she doesn’t know what her playing future holds before commending Lloyd on her career.
“I feel like people just think play as long as you can and that’s amazing — you want to play forever — but it’s actually like, no, it is really hard to do that,” Rapinoe said. “There are so few athletes who play to her age or play as long as she has.”
Rapinoe added that it’s not just about staying healthy and physically being able to be there but also making sure your game is evolving, something that Lloyd has done.
“For me, it’s the fact she ended her career with an incredible brace in a medal match at the Olympics — just says it all. That’s the sort of person Carli was. As productive as ever.
“She has so many appearances, so many goals. So many memorable goals as well. It’s all good and well to score five goals against teams that don’t really matter, but I think Aaron Heifetz, our media relations guy, said that every medal match Carli played in she scored a goal. That’s greatness. She’s unbelievable. Showing up in the biggest moments, that’s what you want from your biggest players.”