At halftime of the U.S. women’s national team’s 0-0 draw against Portugal, it seemed as though Carli Lloyd had thoughts. As Fox’s broadcast returned from its post-whistle commercial break, the former USWNT star was seen mouthing “alright,” as if to prepare herself to get stuck in. Instead, her sole remark beyond the standard highlight narration was surprisingly curt.
“Not good enough,” Lloyd said. “There’s so much to unpack, I don’t think we have time to do that right now, but honestly not good enough. At all.”
The game didn’t resume for another nine minutes.
That television equivalent of pleading the fifth may not have been ill-advised. After all, this was the vaunted U.S. women’s national team they were talking about, a storied program that has proven to be routinely capable of beating the odds and pulling rabbits out of seemingly nonexistent hats.
Then the final whistle blew with the United States advancing from Group E by literal inches, and there was little reason for such a reserved approach. Especially as the players who succeeded Lloyd and many others from the four previous World Cup-winning rosters were shown smiling, dancing, and taking selfies with fans to celebrate reaching the knockout round at all, after one of the worst performances in…
