USWNT legend Carli Lloyd has announced his planned retirement at the end of the 2021 NWSL season and will play his final matches for the national team in September and October.
USWNT has four “autumn friendly matches” planned against unannounced opposition, which will be Lloyd’s last for her country, 16 years after she made her debut in 2005.
After those games, 39-year-old Lloyd will stay at NJ / NY Gotham for the rest of the NWSL season. The regular season ends at the end of October, with the team currently striving to make the playoffs scheduled for November.
“When I first started with the national team in 2005, my two main goals were to be the most complete football player I could be and to help the team win championships,” Lloyd explained in a statement published by US Soccer.
“Every day I stepped out on the field, I played as if it was my last match. I never wanted to take anything for granted, especially knowing how hard it is to get to the top, but even harder to stay at the top for so long.
“Ending my career when I knew my family could be by my side and share this last chapter with me could not have been more special.
“We will all have a lot more time to spend together now, and especially with my husband Brian, who has been my rock and biggest support system all these years. We are both looking forward to starting this next chapter in our lives without my daily training and play, but I will probably need a different outlet for my competitiveness! Maybe it’s going to be golf? ”
A legendary career is coming to an end ??? @CarliLloyd has announced that she is retiring. The soon-to-be-announced four #USWNT fall-friendly matches will be her final matches in an American uniform and end a remarkable career. She will end the @NWSL season with @GothamFC.
– US Soccer WNT (@USWNT) August 16, 2021
Lloyd, whose 312 USWNT appearances are second only to Kristine Lilly (354) in international football history, male or female, had already hinted that he could retire after the recent Olympics in Japan, where she collected a bronze medal with her teammates.
In total, Lloyd has 128 goals for the national team, which means that only Lilly (130), Mia Hamm (158) and Abby Wambach (184) have ever scored more goals. She is also the leading USWNT goal scorer in the Olympic competition as a result of the goals she scored this summer.
Lloyd went to his first international tournament in 2007 when USWNT finished third in the World Cup. A year later, she won an Olympic gold medal, before continuing to play in the 2011 World Cup final, and missed a penalty in a shootout when Japan lifted the trophy.
She won a second Olympic gold medal in 2012 and went on to achieve widespread international acclaim and star status with her achievements at the 2015 World Cup. She scored in every knockout match, including a 16-minute hat-trick in the final to beat Japan and avenge 2011 .
Lloyd was also named the world’s best female player by FIFA in both 2015 and 2016 and won a second World Cup winning medal in 2019.
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