Lloyd is eager for her latest challenge
Joining English club in March presents ‘unique opportunity’
Citing the desire to pursue a “unique opportunity” and her continual search for “different challenges,” Carli Lloyd officially signed a short-term contract with English club Manchester City Women.
Lloyd, the twotime reigning FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, will stay with Manchester City throughout the Football Association Women’s Super League’s Spring Series, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
“This is a unique opportunity,’ Lloyd said in an interview released by Manchester City. “I couldn’t be any prouder to be part of the club here in Manchester. … Throughout my career, I am always looking for different challenges. I always want to continue to get better and look for ways where I am going to be able to push my game.”
In time for quarterfinals
Manchester City’s press release says Lloyd will join the club in March, following a stint with the U.S. women’s national team for the SheBelieves Cup, which will be held March 1-7 in the United States.
The first leg of Manchester City’s Champions League quarterfinal against Denmark’s Fortuna Hjorringis is March 23. If Manchester City — which is the reigning champion of the FA WSL — advances to the semifinals, it could face Lyon and fellow national team star Alex Morgan, who in December left the Orlando Pride in a similar deal to Lloyd’s.
“When you add in Champions League and all of these other unbelievable events, it is hard to not want to come,” Lloyd said. “…It is great for me to be able to come over here and see what another women’s league is all about. I can go back and help the NWSL. Champions League is huge. Not too many female footballers are able to say they’ve competed in that. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be a competitor. I want to help the team win it all.”
If she returns from England in a timely manner, the latest Lloyd would return to the Dash is early June. That would give her plenty of time to play a bulk of the NWSL season, which begins in mid-April.
Filling in for Lloyd in the middle of the Dash’s three-forward attack likely will be Janine Beckie or Rachel Daly, both internationals for their own countries and good enough to start on most teams in the world.
Forward thinking
Dash coach Randy Waldrum already had further fortified the forward position by picking Canadian international Nichelle Prince in the NWSL college draft.
“If this would have happened two years ago, it would have been a much bigger blow for us,” Waldrum said. “But now it is not as bad with all the players we have and our depth in the midfield and up front.”
Not having Lloyd will be easier to adjust to because the Dash have not exactly been used to having her all the time anyway. Lloyd has played 19 of 40 regularseason games the last two years. Last season, she took a 17-day break following the U.S. women’s team’s Olympic elimination before returning to Houston.
Waldrum said the Dash’s goals and expectations will not change. After improving at every position during the offseason, the Dash have their sights set on qualifying for the playoffs for the first time no matter who is on the field.
“We haven’t been building this team to be built around one player,” Waldrum said. “That’s the good news. Sometimes you can get caught doing that, but we haven’t done that.”