USWNT lacked ‘confidence’ during World Cup

Carli Lloyd is not done picking apart the USWNT’s disappointing performance at the World Cup.

The former U.S. soccer star, who has been outspoken about the team’s failures both on and off the pitch, piled more criticism on the USWNT when she spoke at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention on Saturday.

“I mean, I just looked at that team, and you didn’t see the confidence. You didn’t see the aura, in any interviews in any postgame remarks that we’ve generally had over the last several decades, where you just feel like the players are confident,” Lloyd said, according to The Athletic.

“So I think from a development standpoint, from a technical standpoint, from a tactical standpoint, I didn’t think this team was fit.”

Lloyd added she thought the team, which lost in devastating fashion to Sweden in penalty kicks during the Round of 16, needed to learn to respond to challenges better.

“I think developing players at the youth level, mentally being able to persevere. I think you saw a group of players that maybe needed to be taught a little bit more about adversity or have a coach that could motivate, that could allow them to believe in themselves.”

The team’s coach during the World Cup, Vlatko Andonovski, resigned earlier this week, and the team appointed Twila Kilgore as the interim head coach.

Andonovski became the first coach to lead the team to two major events (2021 Tokyo Olympics, 2023 World Cup) and not come away with the title.

Lloyd, a two-time World Cup champion with the USWNT, also critiqued the team when the players celebrated after a 0-0 draw to Portugal.

She has continued to shed light on the factors that contributed to the squad’s demise.

“There’s a level of — I guess not everybody — but a level of entitlement, that I guess everyone’s gonna do everything for you and just not being respectful of others. That starts at the top. That should be the coach, that should be the leader, and it should funnel on down to the players,” she said on Alexi Lalas’ podcast last week.