Carli Lloyd plans to retire after 2020 Olympics
Carli Lloyd is the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year and a defending World Cup champion. She's arguably never been in better form than she's in right now, but she is 34 years old so she is much closer to the end of her career than she is the beginning. And the United States and Houston Dash star says that her plan is to retire from the sport after the 2020 Olympics.
“My plan is to play another cycle, so another World Cup and another Olympics and finish up in 2020 in Tokyo," Lloyd said in a Facebook Live chat. "By that time, I’ll be 38, so I think that will be a good time to be finished and hopefully start a family.”
The U.S. team is currently in a period of transition. With three years before their next major tournament, Jill Ellis is starting to phase out some players who have been part of the team, while others have retired. This is opening the door for new and younger players to take their spots. Lloyd has no intention of being part of that generation moving on from the national team, though. She wants to keep playing through the next cycle, which means trying to defend their World Cup title in 2019 and reclaim the gold medal in 2020.
Lloyd will have to do that with a new cast around her. Alex Morgan and Christen Press figure to be among the options at striker and Morgan Brian and Megan Rapinoe are still around, but the rest is changing. Lindsey Horan is getting a bigger place in the team, as is Mallory Pugh, while Sam Mewis and Allie Long have both made headway. Players like Vanessa DiBernardo, Stephanie McCaffrey, Kealia Ohai and Rose Lavelle could be ready to become regulars with the national team as well. So Lloyd will have to adjust to playing with a bunch of new players and potentially see her role change as a result, but this is still her team as long as she plays at the level she has.
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