Former US soccer star Carli Lloyd criticizes team’s behavior after World Cup tie

The United States women’s national soccer team slogged its way into the knockout stage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a lackluster scoreless draw against Portugal in the teams’ final group stage match on Aug. 1 in Auckland, New Zealand.

And former star Carli Lloyd, one of the most legendary players in U.S. soccer history, is not pleased.

Lloyd, who now works as an analyst for Fox Sports, bashed the team, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, saying they are not even close to being the best.

“I wouldn’t put them in the top 10,” Lloyd said after the match, which almost ended in a colossal upset when Portugal’s Ana Capeta nearly put her team up 1-0 in stoppage time with a shot that hit the post. It would’ve marked the first time Portugal had ever beaten the American squad.

Lloyd, who won two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals and is a two-time FIFA Player of the Year, also took issue with the players dancing and taking photos with fans after the match.

“I have never witnessed something like that,” she said. “There’s a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing, to be smiling — I mean, the player of the match was that post. You’re lucky to not be going home right now.”

Lloyd, who memorably scored a hat trick in 16 minutes during the 2015 World Cup final against Japan, knows a thing or two about buckling down after not playing well. In 2021, she ran wind sprints on an empty field after the U.S. lost, 1-0, to Canada in the semifinals of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Lloyd is not alone in raking the current team over the coals, either. Several people on Twitter expressed frustration over the squad’s quality of play against Portugal, while agreeing with Lloyd's take about the post actually being the hero.

Some people even put the blame squarely on the shoulders of head coach Vlatko Andonovski.

While the USWNT may not have played its crispest game and wound up finishing in second place in its group behind the Netherlands, the fact remains the team is still alive and will play in the round of 16, where it will most likely battle Sweden, which is poised to win Group G.

“The players know the standard. It’s just not good enough right now,” former USWNT goalie Ashlyn Harris said Aug. 1 on TODAY. “But the thing is we’re moving forward. We cannot push the panic button. There is no script to a World Cup. We continue building. We find our feet. We find our joy and passion. That’s why we play this game.”

The USWNT will continue its quest to win its third consecutive World Cup when it next takes the pitch on Aug. 6 at 5 a.m. ET in Melbourne, Australia.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com