Carli Lloyd’s ruthlessness is spot-on with USWNT criticisms

The U.S. Women’s National Team has made a lackluster showing as it looks to clinch an unprecedented FIFA Women’s World Cup three-peat.

The USWNT barely eked its way out of the group stage with two draws — one scoreless — and a win over Vietnam.

Never mind that most of the players stood silent — like entitled brats — without their hands over their hearts during the playing of the national anthem. Perhaps that’s a metaphor that they can’t find their hearts this tournament?

But that’s not to say there hasn’t been a dazzling breakout star at the World Cup, and she needs no introduction.

Her name is Carli Lloyd.

The former USWNT midfielder turned Fox Sports analyst has been as hard-nosed and ruthless as a broadcaster as she was on the field, where she won two World Cup titles and two Olympic gold medals. Lloyd has dished out blunt, searing criticisms of her former team’s lack of drive and intensity.

The 41-year-old questioned everything from the lineup to their will to win — with the packed punch you expect from talking heads, but rarely get.

And of course, she blasted the embarrassing post-Portugal match dancing and selfies from the USWNT, after a goalpost saved their butts from being planted on the next flight home. The players should have been infuriated, unable to muster a smile or even a mild shimmy.

Everything you need to know about the 2023 Women’s World Cup including schedule, scores and news

“I have never witnessed something like that. There’s a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family,” Lloyd said on the Fox Sports studio show. “But to be dancing, to be smiling. I mean, the player of the match was that post. You were lucky to not be going home right now.”

Her commentary has been more passionate than the play, and as a result, has boomeranged around the internet with mixed reactions. Coach Vlatko Andonovski shot back, calling her assertions “insane” and one commenter dubbed her “grumpy Roy Keane” of women’s soccer, referring to the former soccer star and coach and current pundit.

Grumpy or not, she’s doing her job well.

Initially, Lloyd doubled down. Then, on Wednesday she offered some explanation for her frank talk. Not back peddling, merely nuance. She wants the “legacy [to] continue to be passed down from generation to generation.”

And what a legacy it is. The long-dominant U.S. Women’s soccer program — built by giants like Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Christy Rampone, to name a few — has always been a matter of pride for this country.

But that reign has been in peril in recent years, with many nations ably closing the once-gaping divide. It’s hardly time for the U.S. to take its foot off the gas — and pucker up for selfies.

As Lloyd, who retired in 2021, has pointed out, the ethos around the program has simply changed. The motivation, the drive and the hunger have been traded in for the spoils of victory rather than the victory itself.

“It is no longer [that] we want to win because we want to win,” Lloyd said. “No, we want everything that comes with winning, and we think we can just roll out and win games. And that’s not the case, and teams see that. They see the arrogance in the U.S. and see that they’re not this unstoppable team. They see that they’re able to be broken down and beaten.”

Maybe the American players turned into Rocky Balboa in “Rocky III” — flashy suits, endorsements galore, distractions and no appetite. Lloyd is sounding the alarm that they are about to get walloped by Clubber Lang.

Lloyd hasn’t been as explicit about it, but lately the highly political squad has been more synonymous with social justice than finding the back of the net.

Led off the field by the soon-to-retire Megan Rapinoe, they have been lionized for their fight for equal pay, the subject of a fawning and unwatchable 2021 HBO documentary “LFG” and the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs. In 2022, Rapinoe was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Lloyd’s candor and willingness to swim against the tide is not new. The Jersey girl was the lone member to not kneel for the national anthem before a 2021 match against Australia. Last year, she said she told Hope Solo, the team culture had changed, the “worst I’ve ever seen.”

The U.S. women should listen to their old teammate, who in her willingness to offer a diagnosis, has become must-see television.

And hopefully, she has really pissed them off. Then maybe they won’t get beaten by Sweden on Sunday. They can take back the spotlight from Lloyd and maybe hang on to win a third title.

Something we can all root for.