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DELRAN, NJ — “Carli Loyd! Loyd the Car! Carli Loyd!” Delran Community Park, run by kids from Delran FC, a South Jersey youth soccer club that was Carli Lloyd’s first team, filled up on October 14.
Some of the cheering fans weren’t even born when Lloyd scored his famous hat-trick at the 2015 World Cup in Canada – all three goals were coming within 16 minutes – the magic of seeing him as a hometown hero seemed refreshing for everyone at the tournament. Park.
The sport and its fans have found particularly personal paths as 39-year-old Lloyd approaches the end of her brilliant football career, which could come early in Sunday’s National Women’s Football League playoff game between Gotham FC and the Chicago Red Stars. greet him with gratitude and respect.
Just eight days before the Delran meeting, Gotham FC hosted Washington Spirit at a soccer stadium in Chester, Pa., instead of its regular home, Red Bull Arena in North Jersey. Chester stadium is not an NWSL site, but it was as close to Delran as the team could get. And during Lloyd’s farewell season, playing a tribute game near his hometown outweighed any other consideration.
Red Bull Arena was to be the location of another tribute game, the regular season finale last Sunday. During the warm-up in both games, Lloyd’s teammates wore Lloyd’s name and the number 10 jersey.
On October 26, Lloyd tearful farewell speech She played her last game as a member of the United States Women’s National Team in St. Paul on a field in Minn.
“I’m signing,” he said. “You won’t see me on the field, but you better believe that I will help this game grow.”
Lloyd finished with 316 matches, representing every international match he played. Only another female actress in the world has earned more—US’ Kristine Lilly, who retired with 354 in 2010. Lloyd scored 134 goals in global competition, placing third on the USWNT list behind Abby Wambach (184) and Mia Hamm (158) and also amassing 64 assists.
Lloyd has gone to four Olympics and four World Cups, won twice in each tournament, and played for several professional club teams in both the NWSL and defunct Women’s Professional Football.
Fans filled the Red Bull Arena for Lloyd’s final home game of the regular season. He met expectations with a head shot in the 53rd minute and was applauded by the fans and teammates. In his post-match interview, one inscription on the shin pads was evident: “Every Day Is Better,” his longtime personal motto.
At the Delran celebration, as the fireworks slow down and John Mellencamp’s final chords “small town” faded, young players from Delran FC sleepily gathered up their banners and posters and came home exhausted from the cheers on a school night, but knowing they would see and live in the same city as one of the greatest of all time.
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