Megan Rapinoe Responds to Carli Lloyd’s Apology While Highlighting USWNT’s Past Struggles: “It Was Nuts”

“Operated like an emotionless machine” is how Carli Lloyd recently described her playing days. Her reason, you ask? That’s because the USWNT icon believed it was the only way for her to “survive in such a cutthroat environment.” In fact, Lloyd even apologized to her former teammates, asking for their forgiveness if, at any point, she couldn’t be there for them. Now, just days later, Megan Rapinoe has stepped up—not only to accept the apology but to sympathize with Carli by recalling the “crazy” struggles she herself faced in the past.

Unapologetic has always been the nature of Lloyd as she mostly remained cold with her teammates. But after hearing Rapinoe’s confession, one may give her some leeway. “It was crazy,” began the former OL Reign (now Seattle)” on the latest episode of A Touch More podcast. “There was really a very long stretch of time.”

Well, this is a period that revolves around the years between 2015 to 2018, where the difference was that either players were making a borderline living playing soccer or making $30,000 to $70,000 playing in the league. Even while making the cut into the national team roster, the difference, as Rapinoe pointed out, was stark—“You’re doing all the same s**t, you’re doing everything the same except playing.”

How crazy it felt to be the 24th player doing every single camp and practice, while the 23rd got to play, is a competitive feeling that Pinoe totally understands. If that was Megan at the time, just imagine what Carli Lloyd must have been going through. “It takes a toll. You have to pay for all of the things that make you great. Being out of it and being able to self-reflect, it sounds like Carli is self-reflecting,” continued the former Lyon star.

Rapinoe rather encouraged Lloyd with everything she had to keep going on that path—to stay vulnerable, ask herself the hard questions, and really dive into it, because, as she put it, “I wouldn’t change it for the world. I loved playing but it was absolutely nuts.”

Indeed, quite a surprising take from the 39-year-old, who clearly seems to more than just understand why her former national teammate had to behave the hard way around the team. In fact, in Pinoe’s book, this is something that she believes was a typical desperate-times-calls-for-desperate-measures moment for Carli Lloyd!

Carli Lloyd did what she felt was ‘necessary’, says Megan Rapinoe

Megan didn’t stop at highlighting the challenges she and other players were forced to face back in the day. One of them was the constant fear that a teammate who they shared great chemistry with might end up playing the same position. “I mean honestly, you just prayed to God that the person you clicked with and had a connection with as a friend didn’t play your position,” said Pinoe.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case for the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner, as Megan recalled her two best friends, Tobin Heath and Christen Press. While Press played the same position as her, Tobin was on the right, which helped ease the competitive tension. Yet, for Pinoe, having that emotional connection was non-negotiable—she needed to be around people she could relate to, lean on, and vent to in such a high-pressure environment.

“I needed the community, the connection. I needed to show my vulnerability, I had to do that,” she said. But the end result be if she didn’t have it? “I don’t think I would have survived otherwise,” bluntly remarked the NWSL icon before making another point in Carli Lloyd’s favor. “Obviously, Carli did it this way and it sounds like she’s maybe asking herself if that was necessary,” concluded Megan, even though Lloyd was a very successful name in the world.

Who would have thought that a simple “To my teammates… I’m sorry I wasn’t always able to give you all of me,” statement would have opened such truths? Regardless, share your views in the comments.