The end is near for Carli Lloyd, since a few days ago he announced his official retirement from professional soccer, at the end of the 2021 season of the National Women's Soccer League and after playing a series of friendly matches with the United States women's team, which this Wednesday he confirmed the dates, times and venues of the last four matches of his historic footballer, who at 39 years of age, will hang up the boots and leave behind a glorious career in women's soccer.
Four cities, four chances to catch your #USWNT in action this fall! ????????⚽️
Coming ???? to Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City & St. Paul to close out our 2021 home schedule!
– U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) August 18, 2021
Through a statement, the current world champions confirmed a couple of games against Paraguay, to be played on September 16 and 21 at Firstenergy Stadium in Cleveland and at the new TQL Stadium in Cincinnati and a couple more against South Korea, to be played on October 21 and 26 , in Kansas City and Minnesota, respectively and where Lloyd will be able to end her career as a national team.
The American squad will play its first matches, after winning the bronze medal in the last Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, which will also serve as the beginning of the path towards qualification for the 2023 Women's World Cup, same that will be played in Australia and New Zealand.
“These games are important to welcome our Olympic team to play in front of our fans., but they are also the first steps towards qualifying for the 2023 World Cup. We all know that we have to be at the top of our game to win at the highest level and the dedication of the entire group to that quest will never change, “he said. Vlatko Andonovski.
The goodbye of a legend
The friendlies against the teams of Paraguay and South Korea will represent the end of Carli Lloyd's historic career as a national team., who will increase her number of appearances as the second player with the most meetings in the USWNT, adding so far 312 participations, in addition to registering a total of 128 annotations, which place her as the fourth highest scorer in the history of the selection and after his announcement, the soccer player launched an emotional message through his social networks.
To say I will miss it is an understatement. I have given it all I have every single day. I have no regrets. But… .I still have 2 more months to grind and cherish playing. You best believe I’ll give it all I have till the end!
– Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) August 17, 2021
“My first love. My first passion. 34 years playing. It has given me more than I could ever dream of. I could never have imagined the journey that I have taken. It has been incredibly difficult, but I would not have wanted it any other way, “Lloyd wrote on his social media.