Carli Lloyd Calls Out Vlatko Andonovski et al. Andonovski and Others Clap Back.

AUKLAND – Relationships are getting cantankerous down here, both on and off the pitch.

While the U.S. Women’s National team players are having some difficulties connecting with each other on the pitch, so are they having difficulties with a certain blunt alumni.

As if she was amped up to start in a World Cup Final, Carli Lloyd came out with her bow and arrows, and volleyed away at coach Vlatko Andonovski and his misfiring 2023 World Cup team after their 0-0 performance against Portugal, who played with hearts on their sleeves.

Lloyds first salvo was directed at players who were all smiles and dancing after their ho-hum draw.

“There’s a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing, to be smiling?” Lloyd said from her FOX TV den. “She reminded viewers with postgame bleeding ulcers, “The player of the match was that goalpost, you are lucky to not be going home right now!” 

Perhaps Lloyd’s perspective is spot on and has seen enough. The expectations for FIFA’s #1 ranked team  and 2019 defending champions are per usual sky high. No one would deny that they are underperforming, including the team members and bustling staff.

On the other hand, the squad is still competing and has moved on in this arduous tournament.

“I’m just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking-it-for-granted, where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening,” Lloyd lamented.

She then launched a fire arrow at the team when she expressed including these sentiments, including that the team was taking this journey in so many ways for granted. “There’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. That’s a fine line of where is the direction going with that. It’s okay to be confident, but you never want to cross that line of being arrogant.”

Andonovski first heard of the statements during his postgame press conference when a reporter raised them. The head coach took a deep breath and fired back to everyone listening, “The one thing I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else. He took another breath and went on the offensive.”

“They’ve put everything they could in preparation for this tournament and every game that they go into, so to question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it’s… insane. I’ve never seen this team step on the field and not try hard or not compete.”

The stern faced skipper continued, “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels. It’s not like we played well by any means. We owned it. We know it’s not good enough. We’re not happy with our performance, but we qualified for the next round. We’re moving on.”

After the match, veteran Kelly O’Hara took the lead position in the team’s customary circle-up-the-wagons assembly just off of the middle of field.  

When asked what she shared with her teammates, she replied, “We did what we had to do, we’re moving on, the group stage is done, this is over, it’s in the rearview, we have our next game in front of us and that’s the only one that matters.'” The glass half-full thinking O’Hara continued. “Maybe we didn’t do it the way we wanted to, or planned on doing it, but we’re advancing and this is the World Cup and that’s all that matters.”

Colorado’s Lindsey Horan was positive. When speaking to reports near the team’s changing room, she said, “Obviously, this is not the performance that anyone wanted to see, or we felt like, you know, we could do. I think we need more and we will build off of that. You’re gonna see a better team in the Round of 16.”

The Lady Yanks will remain in rainy Auckland to train through August 3rd, then will charter to Melbourne to prepare for their knockout game against the Swedes.

Horan spoke with the media following another rigorous practice.

“It’s kind of frustrating for me to hear, especially knowing this team and knowing how much we put into every single game, how much preparation we put into every single game, seeing our trainings, seeing how hard we work.”

She continued, “So, for anyone to question our mentality hurts a little bit but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care. It’s what’s going inside of the team and getting ready for that next game.” 

The Rush Colorado alum then became a bit philosophical. “In this game, you can’t question that we didn’t want to win the game, you can’t question that we weren’t working as hard as we possibly could. We know that things could have been better, we know that we could have done more, we know that we could’ve scored opportunities.”

The team has ample time to mull over their recent past, and contemplate their immediate future.

“The approach is it’s do or die,” said Alex Morgan during her visit with a throng of media types. “The knockout stage – anything can happen and we are looking to get back, feel good, get our bodies back, and we’ll be watching to see who we will be playing.”

And anything will happen. Burgundy Wave will be on-site in sunny southern Australia to document the all the fireworks and fanfare.

Photo Credit: John Babiak.

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