USWNT Captain Lindsey Horan Responds To Carli Lloyd’s Criticism

The United States women's national team received rightful criticism for its play on the field at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but captain Lindsey Horan took exception to critiques of her squad's mentality.

Former national team teammate and FOX analyst Carli Lloyd blasted the team for not appearing more somber after a draw against Portugal on Tuesday. She named the goalpost as the player of the match to illustrate how close the squad came to losing, which everyone could agree with.

But fans and pundits took exception to Lloyd claiming the team didn't have the mentality or desire to win. The two-time World Cup winner walked back her critiques, and Horan wasn't going to let it affect the team heading into Sunday's round of 16 matchup against Sweden.

"It's kind of frustrating for me to hear," Horan told reporters in a news conference Thursday, per ESPN's Caitlin Murray. "especially knowing this team and knowing how much we put into every single game, how much preparation we put into every single game, seeing our trainings, seeing how hard we work."

"Again, it's noise and, again, it's an opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion -- we know that's how it goes," Horan added. "But for me, I always want to defend my team and say: you have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, you have no idea every single training what we're doing individually, collectively, etcetera.

"So, for anyone to question our mentality hurts a little bit but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. I don't really care. It's what's going inside of the team and getting ready for that next game."

Again, very few people argued against Lloyd's critiques of the on-field performance. Fans and analysts collectively agreed the United States played poorly and not up to its standards in the group stage and to claim Lloyd was making a great point in that aspect is intellectually dishonest and shows you probably don't pay much attention to coverage of the sport.

"I don't really care. It's what's going inside of the team and getting ready for that next game."

Horan on criticisms of the USWNT's mentality

Fellow former national team players Christen Press and Tobin Heath offered a more nuanced approach on their podcast this week when they said that while the mentality for the team might be there, it might not be enough as it was when they played.

The question might not be if the United States has the desire to win. That probably exists, but the real problem is creating cohesion around that mentality and getting everyone to play as a team rather than as individuals.

The final group stage matches saw traditional powerhouses Brazil, Canada and Germany fail to qualify for the knockout rounds. While it was a strange site to see the United States celebrate a 0-0 draw, veterans like Kelley O'Hara wanted to stress to the team they made it to the next round and that should be the focus of the team.

As Horan pointed out, no one outside of the team knew what the locker room reaction was. The leaders might have been hard on the team behind the scenes but didn't want to show that on a public platform. It's why outside analysis of work ethic and mentality can be vapid, especially when there are more important things that can be analyzed.