Carli Lloyd has undoubtedly earned her induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and few would argue with that
Carli Lloyd has been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the class of 2025, the organization announced Tuesday. It’s an honor she’s earned with two World Cup titles, scoring two gold medal-winning goals at two Olympic Games and several individual awards she’s earned during her decade-long career.
Lloyd is one of three players selected from the list of finalists, which includes Yael Averbuch, Lori Chalupny, Stephanie Cox, Cat Whitehill and Amy Rodriguez. The induction ceremony will take place on May 3 next year in Frisco, Texas.
One of the greatest moments of Lloyd’s career came during the 2015 World Cup, when her hat-trick in the final against Japan won the US women’s national team their third World Cup. Her career with the USWNT senior team spanned 16 years and 316 caps (second only to Kristine Lilly), winning two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals and an Olympic bronze medal. She won the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the 2015 World Cup, was named FIFA Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016 (when the award was renamed The Best) and has been included in several of the world’s top XIs.
Lloyd is the first player to score a hat-trick in a Women’s World Cup final. (Christopher Morris/Getty Images)
Given her long list of achievements, there was no doubt that Lloyd would emerge victorious in the voting. While her club achievements haven’t always kept pace – playing several seasons for the underperforming Houston Dash in the NWSL didn’t help – her national team achievements are more than enough to dazzle even the most jaded voter.
Lloyd, along with former USMNT goalkeeper Nick Rimando, earned player induction as one of two players to appear on at least 50 percent of the ballots. Lloyd was on 47 ballots, with 97.9 percent of the vote.
The only question was whether this would happen on a player or veteran ballot basis, that is, for players who have been retired for more than ten full calendar years. With only three spots for players and a 20-person ballot with both men and women participating, those who should join are sometimes delayed by a few years.
Lloyd will retire in 2021 was officially eligible for the player vote in 2024 after having been out of the game for at least three full calendar years, and having played at least twenty full international matches and at least five seasons in a first division. It’s another testament to her resume that she was elected during her first year of eligibility.
Lloyd, who has created a somewhat controversial public persona both as a player and now as a commentator, said in 2021 during her retirement tour that “everyone was trying to drag me down.”
Lloyd’s comments have long divided the American fanbase, and sometimes players, as well. (Ira L. Black – Corbis / Getty Images)
“I don’t know if it was like a Kobe or Jordan thing, where in my mind I had these enemies and I just created these storylines in my head where I just wanted to tell people,” Lloyd shared. The Athletics when. ‘Maybe there’s a bit of truth in that, but I think there’s also some truth in it. But I look back and I think, ‘I thought all these people hated me. I thought everyone had so many bad things to say about me.” Now I have announced my retirement and I am just shocked. There’s all this support that I’ve gotten. ”
GO DEEPER
Carli Lloyd’s USWNT criticism is a natural extension of her public persona
The controversy mostly stemmed from off-court issues both during and after her career, such as calling Megan Rapinoe kneeling to protest police brutality against Black Americans a “distraction” or saying USWNT players should not have smiled and dancing after they managed to advance. the group stage of the 2023 World Cup.
When she was cut from the USWNT under-21 team in 2003 because the coach thought she wasn’t working hard enough, she says she flipped a switch. Lloyd promised that she would never be deposed for hard work again. Much of her career, at least as publicly discussed, has been motivated by proving criticism wrong. She described much of this journey in her autobiography When Nobody Was Watching, in which she discussed her single-minded pursuit of winning, even though it sometimes cost her some of her closest family relationships – a rift she eventually repaired in 2020, during the Covid -19 pandemic. .
It was never denied that Lloyd was a force on the field. She could be a 10 battering ram, and her dedication to staying healthy and fit is honestly instructive considering how long she played with few major gaps in her availability.
Again, the Hall of Fame criteria is about achievement, and Lloyd has a lot of that, with more to spare. There’s no question that she should be in the class of 2025, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that she made it through freshman year.
(Top photo: Robert Cianflone / FIFA via Getty Images)
