Soccer
Carli Lloyd, the former USWNT star, recently explained why she chose not to kneel with her teammates during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, two years after her final international championship match.
Lloyd made headlines at the Summer Games, moved to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when she decided not to kneel with the U.S. Women’s National Team before the bronze-medal winning game against Australia.
During an appearance on CBS Sports’ “Kickin’ It,” Lloyd shared her reasons for not kneeling, which had become a common way for athletes to protest racism after George Floyd’s death in 2020.
She expressed that the act of kneeling had started to feel like a mere trend without producing significant change.
However, for her last medal game, Lloyd chose to stand just before kickoff.
Lloyd had kneeled before the other games in the tournament but made the decision to stand in this particular moment.
When asked about her comfort level with the purpose and protest of kneeling, Lloyd expressed that she agreed with its intent but emphasized that every person should be seen as a human being rather than focusing on their nationality.
She also noted that different viewpoints exist, but people often face criticism if they don’t align with a particular opinion.
“I think we’ve gotten to a point where if it’s not a certain opinion, then other people can’t have their own opinions,” she said. “It’s kind of contradicting itself. In that moment, I just had enough of kneeling right before the game because we had done it for a whole year or so leading up.”
Maurice Edu, a former U.S. Men’s National Team player, suggested that not kneeling “dampened” the impact of the situation, considering Lloyd’s support for change.
Lloyd responded by emphasizing her support for actionable change and expressing that kneeling had started to feel like a mere trend. She described the empty stadium and the fact that it was a global action as factors that influenced her decision.
When asked if she would handle the situation the same way again, Lloyd confirmed that she would, as her focus was on winning a medal.
The U.S. achieved exactly that with a 4-3 victory, during which Lloyd scored two goals.
In her post-playing career, Lloyd has attracted attention for her criticism of the USWNT. She first criticized the team for celebrating a draw with Portugal and continued to call out the U.S. following their early exit from the World Cup.
“I think there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and I just saw this team go in a direction where the values that were built and instilled in this team were not displayed at this World Cup,” she stated in an interview with The Athletic.
Michael Johnson is your soccer guru, providing extensive coverage of soccer. With a global perspective, he delivers match reports, player interviews, and insights into the beautiful game, ensuring readers stay connected to the world of soccer.
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