Carli Lloyd reaches landmark 300 appearances for USWNT
USWNT veteran and two-time World Cup winner Carli Lloyd has become only the third player in the history of international football to reach 300 appearances for her country, hitting the landmark milestone in a 1-1 draw against Sweden in Stockholm.
Lloyd, now 38, joins fellow Americans and former USWNT teammates Kristine Lilly and Christie Pearce in the ‘300 club’. Lilly’s 354 appearances is a world record that may never be broken, while Pearce played 311 USWNT games during an 18-year international career.
Lloyd, who has also scored 124 goals for her country to put her sixth on the all-time goals list, was almost 23 by the time she made her senior USWNT debut in 2005. She scored her first goal the following year off the bench in a friendly against Chinese Taipei and was a regular starter by 2008.
The New Jersey native’s first international tournament was the 2007 World Cup, which ended in semi-final embarrassment for the Americans after being thrashed 4-0 by Brazil.
Lloyd became more prominent the following year as the USWNT won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, scoring the extra-time winner in the final against Brazil.
At the 2011 World Cup, Lloyd wore her famous number ten shirt for the first time at a major tournament, with the United States reaching the final, while the 2015 World Cup was what launched her into a global name, transcending women’s soccer.
Lloyd hit top form in the knockout stages of the competition, scoring in each round en route to the final, before blowing Japan away with a 16-minute hat-trick in the final itself. She was awarded the Golden Ball as best player and was named the best female player in the world by FIFA in both 2015 and 2016, sharing a stage with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the annual galas.
Lloyd had also already been an Olympic champion for a second time in 2012, scoring twice in the gold medal match against Canada. It is her record on the biggest stage that has built her reputation as a clutch player of the highest order over the years.
She played a slightly lesser role at the 2019 World Cup in France, largely appearing from the bench, especially in the latter rounds of the tournament, but walked away with another winner’s medal.
Lloyd captained the United States for her landmark 300th game, although it was a disappointing match for the team overall. Sweden took a first-half lead through Lina Hurtig and it was only a late penalty from Megan Rapinoe that prevented the tough contest from ending in defeat.
It snapped a 16-game USWNT winning streak and was only the second game the dominant team has failed to win since the 2019 SheBelieves Cup more than two years ago.
No player in men’s international football has yet gone beyond 200 appearances.
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