USWNT Carli Lloyd Tweets Rejection Letter

Carli Lloyd is one of the most decorated players in U.S women’s soccer history, which is why her recent tweet came as a surprise to many soccer fans.  The USWNT midfielder shared a letter dated back to 1993, rejecting her after a tryout to the South Jersey Girls Soccer League.  “My letter I received after I tried out for the SJ Select Team,” she wrote in the tweet caption.  “I didn’t make it, which led me to then try out for the @medfordstrikers [i.e. Medford Strikers – a child and youth soccer club in New Jersey] and was determined to not let this failure derail me,” added Lloyd.

 


Carli Lloyd had long and successful soccer-career, where she became one of the female stars of the game and helped define and bring a following to professional women-soccer of fans in America and around the world.  Lloyd made her senior USWNT debut in 2005 against Ukraine, and scored her first international goal against Taiwan in 2006.Her first FIFA Women’s World Cup with the US Women National Team was the 2007 world cup in China. Heading into the tournament, the USWNT were considered favourites, but after a controversial change to the starting line-up by Coach Greg Ryan, they fell 4-0 in the semi-final against Brazil.

 

Undeterred, Lloyd didn’t let the World Cup loss affect her performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Where she scored 2 vital, game-winning goals at the tournament, ultimately leading Team U.S. to a gold medal. She was later named 2008 U.S. Athlete of The Year.  Lloyd also won with her team the silver medal in the 2011 World Cup in Germany, followed by an Olympic gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics – where she scored 4 goals.  Captaining the U.S. team for 4 matches, Lloyd got her first World Cup gold in the 2015 World Cup in Canada. Her hat-trick in the final against Japan remains to be one of the most spectacular performances in the women’s game to date and led to Lloyd picking up the Golden Ball and Silver Boot for the tournament.  After appearing in the 2016 Rio Olympics team, Lloyd returned to play in yet-another World Cup, at the age of 37.  She scored 3 goals in the 2019 World Cup in France, which the US ultimately won.

 

Lloyd’s age brought up questions by the media, as many women soccer players retire by their early thirties.  Still, she remains to play a major role in the USWNT’s success and continues to inspire the younger female players in the USA and beyond.  22-year old Mallory Pugh, an up-and-coming US soccer star, said in an interview that she was ‘star struck’ by Lloyd when she first joined the team, and that she “still looks up to her now.”  Carli Lloyd continues to inspire young soccer players, both on and off the field.  She has been one of the most vocal players in the recent USWNT equal-pay lawsuit.

 

However, this wasn’t the only rejection Carli Lloyd experienced in her career.  In 2002 she was dropped from the U.S, Under 21 squad.  “I was devastated; I wanted to quit soccer for good,” she revealed on her website.  “At that point, I was planning to get a ‘real’ job and move on with a normal life.  But, life always takes a crazy turn when you expect it the least.”  Although she appeared in all of the USWNT’s 7 matches, and despite her 3-goal performance in the recent World Cup in 2019, Lloyd was unhappy with her playing time, and felt unfairly ‘overlooked’ by coach Jill Ellis.  “It was absolutely the worst time in my life.” Lloyd said.  “There’s no denying it, I deserved to be out on that field that whole World Cup, but I wasn’t.”

 

But in the Carli Lloyd MO, she hasn’t let the World Cup deter her, and she’s now setting her sights on the recently-postponed Olympics, booked for Tokyo 2021.  “It would be a dream come true to win gold with my teammates,” she said.