Carli Lloyd passed the torch to Lindsey Horan this year. Lloyd, who won two Women’s World Cups wearing the vaunted No. 10 jersey, bequeathed the number to Horan after retiring. On Thursday night, it was Horan who honored the jersey by being named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year.
U.S. Soccer announced the nominees for its wide range of 2021 Player of the Year awards, and voting is open now for fans until Dec. 12. The finalists for the awards highlight where the men’s and women’s national teams are right now, and they’re clearly not in the same place.
The 2021 NWSL Championship aired on CBS as the Chicago Red Stars and Washington Spirit met in the season finale. CBS opened its broadcast with an emotional open letter from U.S. soccer legend Carli Lloyd.
Carli Lloyd’s playing career is over. Lloyd’s Gotham FC fell to Mal Pugh and the Chicago Red Stars in the 2021 NWSL quarterfinals, marking the start of a new phase in Lloyd’s life. We thought we’d look back to the Carli Lloyd first college goal, which you know was an absolute banger.
Mallory Pugh is back.
After playing an ever-present role in Chicago’s regular season campaign — second most minutes, second most goals, joint-most assists — Pugh’s resurgent year continued on Sunday with her biggest strike yet: the game-winner against NJ/NY Gotham FC in the NWSL playoff quarterfinals.
To much fanfare (maybe too much?), Carli Lloyd played her final USWNT match last week. At the club level, she’s got at least one more match left before she fully retires. When is Carli Lloyd's last game? That depends on her and her Gotham FC teammates as the NWSL playoffs begin Sunday.
Carli Lloyd played the last regular season game of her career on Sunday and went out in style with a goal to her name during a 1-1 draw vs. Racing Louisville. Lloyd hasn’t been the most prolific scorer in league play, but she was never going to miss this open header.
Carli Lloyd might only have one match left in her career, but she’s still showing she can dice up an NWSL defense. If her own team’s defense can shore up, she’ll earn another match before she retires.
Cisgender men’s footballers have it pretty easy if they want to start a family: Either they get someone pregnant or they adopt. Regardless, outside of some paternity leave near the birth, they generally don’t miss much playing time, rarely have major physical side effects and don’t have to choose between a playing career or starting a family.
Footballers who want to become pregnant, on the other hand, face much more difficult decisions when it comes to having children. Either they pause their career to bear children or put it off until after retirement.