It’s the end of an era for U.S. womens soccer as Carli LIoyd announced her retirement from the game on Monday. LIoyd, a mainstay for U.S. soccer for nearly two decades, represented her country with beauty and class. The 39 year-old’s decision to step away from the game was made just weeks after taking home the Bronze Medal at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Her success on the field will go unrivaled for many years to come.
LIoyd joined the U.S. womens national team in 2005, and has played a critical role in multiple Olympic Gold Medal matches and multiple World Cup wins. She scored the winning goals in both Gold Medal matches for the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, and scored a hat trick in the 2015 World Cup Final against Japan as part of a 5-2 rout that avenged their World Cup loss to Japan four years prior. It took only 16 minutes for LIoyd to record her hat trick and the third one came from nearly 50 yards out in what was a truly remarkable goal and became an instant classic. LIoyd won back-to-back FIFA Womens Player of the Year awards in 2015 and 2016. In a reduced role in the 2019 World Cup, LIoyd scored three goals in the group stage, and the U.S. would run the table going undefeated in the group stage enroute to back-to-back World Cup Titles. She also scored two of the four American goals in the Bronze Medal match against Australia at the Tokyo Olympics.
LIoyd will finish her career with the second most international appearances for the U.S. Womens Soccer team as she currently sits at 312 trailing Kristine Lilly’s 354. She’s also 4th all-time in goals scored for U.S. womens soccer at 128. Lilly is the third highest goal scorer at 130. As part of LIoyd’s retirement announcement, LIoyd said she will still finish the remainder of the NWSL season and will play in the four fall friendlies for the U.S. Womens National Team. Those games will not only act as a farewell tour for LIoyd, but they will also allow her some extra chances to pass Kristine Lilly for third most goals in U.S. womens soccer history. LIoyd will finish her career as the best player of her generation and easily top five all-time.
For more visit Talking Points Sports.
