Former USA Soccer Star Carli Lloyd Admits She ‘Hated’ The USWNT Political Culture Shift

After the 2021 season, legendary Team USA soccer star, Carli Lloyd, announced her retirement. And now, she’s hinting that a culture change on the team was uncomfortable for her to be a part of.

Lloyd joined former teammate Hope Solo on her podcast, “Hope Solo Speaks,”and she opened up on how difficult it was for her to endure how political the team got towards the end of her tenure.

Via the New York Post:

“Even within our squad, the culture has changed,” Lloyd said. “It was really tough and challenging to be playing these last seven years. 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 I wanted to help the team, but the culture within the team was the worst I’ve ever seen it. I’m hoping that the future is bright and some things change.”

Like Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo has been extremely outspoken on how the political rhetoric and ‘bullying’ tactics put in place by leaders on the USA squad turned her off towards the end.

“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.

Both Carli Lloyd and Hope Solo are currently retired — with huge voids left in the team’s roster without their prowess.

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