U.S. Women’s National Team coach Vlatko Andonovski already responded to Carli Lloyd’s blistering comments about his club, and now team captain Lindsey Horan is airing her frustrations against the former soccer star.
Horan said during a press conference Wednesday that the comments were “kind of frustrating for me to hear” when asked about the ex-USWNT player and current Fox Sports analyst’s criticisms, which came after the U.S. drew with Portugal earlier in the week.
“Especially knowing this team and how much we put into every single game,” Horan told reporters during a news conference.
Andonovski had called it “insane” to question the mentality and the team’s willingness to win earlier in the week.
Lloyd strongly criticized the USWNT for its effort against Portugal and how the team danced and smiled following the final game of the group stage that ended in a 0-0 draw.
Lloyd continued her criticism of the culture and mentality of the team in a follow-up interview with Fox Sports’ Martin Rogers.
Lloyd did soften her stance a bit, telling the Fox Sports audience Wednesday that “I want people to understand that I care deeply about this team.”
But Horan still stood in firm support of her team during the press conference.
“I always want to defend my team and say like, you have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes, you have no idea every single angle, every single training, like what we’re doing individually, collectively, et cetera,” Horan continued.
The USWNT has faced plenty of criticism of how it has played during the World Cup this year, especially since the tournament favorites were held off the board against Portugal and have just one win thus far.
While Horan acknowledged the squad should have played better, she said questioning their desire to win was a step too far for the USWNT captain.
“In this game, you can’t question that we didn’t want to win the game. You can’t question we weren’t working as hard as we possibly could. We know we could have done better,” she said.
“Again, it was a really good team that we faced. So you know, for me, it’s like, again, it’s noise and again, it’s an opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And you know, that’s how it goes.
“For anyone to question our mentality, you know, hurts a little bit, but at the end of the day, it’s like, doesn’t really matter. I don’t really care. It’s you know, what’s going on inside of here. It’s what’s going on inside of the team, and we’re getting ready for that next week.”
The USWNT will play its first match of the knockout round on Sunday against Sweden at 5 a.m.
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