Carli Lloyd is preparing for NWSL season, Tokyo Olympics by trading training tips with UFC star Amanda Nunes

United States women’s national team legend Carli Lloyd will turn 38 in July, and the rescheduled 2021 Summer Olympics figure to be her final as a player. That additional year of waiting is not something Lloyd is letting bother her in her pursuit of a third gold medal. Lloyd said she will be able for the Olympics in 15 months, embracing the unique challenge of the rescheduling.

“I think I’ve gotten better with age and am still probably the most fittest players on the [national team],” Lloyd told CBS Sports. “There is no concern whatsoever [about being at the Olympics next year]. I’ve got internal motivation that has never left me.

“It gives me the possibility to give everything I’ve got for another year.”

Here are more highlights from our chat with the star forward.

Better with age and no signs of stopping

Lloyd, who has spent the final month secluded with her husband at their New Jersey home, has taken various time all over quarantine to evaluate her game, what needs to change as she gets older and what she can do to stay at the top. One object she hasn’t focused on is retirement. Lloyd hasn’t set a retirement date or a target age of when she going to hang up her cleats, and she’s just enjoying what’s left of her career. What fuels her is a belief that she is making improvements to with on a daily basis and a determination to show it. 

The hero of the 2015 World Cup, Lloyd’s minutes have decreased with the national team as she’s aged. But she has fought to earn playing time, scoring twice at the 2019 World Cup as the USWNT won another championship in France. 

“With another year, I’m just going to recover, sharper on the ball, more fit, turn out to be even more efficient, smarter,” Lloyd said. 

Itching for NWSL

Lloyd continues to train 5 or 6 days a week as she waits on word approximately the 2020 National Women’s Soccer League season. A member of NWSL club Sky Blue FC, Lloyd is keen for the league to receive underway. The start of the season, originally set for final weekend, has been delayed. She understands of the seriousness of the COVID-19 situation and is only able to play when it is protected.

While Lloyd’s goal is to win an NWSL title for the first time, she also places various importance on increasing the game’s exposure and inspiring young athletes. It’s something that registers in her brain frequently, particularly when seeing the young fans at games. 

“I think what was once special approximately women’s soccer is the ’99 [USWNT] won the World Cup and there was once big excitement,” Lloyd said. “They had their league and it eventually folded. It more or less took years to gain popularity for the U.S. women’s national team. I would say around 2011 is when the excitement started to happen increasingly more, and then obviously the 2015 World Cup. We’ve been booming, and the strengthen has been fantastic.

“We have this league that has many amazing players. The most productive league on this planet in my opinion. It’s exciting. Each and every unmarried weekend, it’s anybody’s game. It is a great product and a great circle of relatives surroundings.”

Learning from a UFC star

In the meanwhile, Lloyd has embraced the chance to be told from another star athlete. Lloyd participated in a new Quibi series called Iron Sharpens Iron, and worked with UFC star Amanda Nunes. Lloyd tried out some UFC drills and shared some training secrets with Nunes.

“I used to be a big Amanda fan prior to this and think she is fantastic in UFC,” Lloyd said. “The thought of being paired up with her [is] actually cool. She’s supportive of women’s soccer, growing up in Brazil. She’s got a bit of skill herself. It was once actually interesting because each athlete, the majority of them, we train a little bit different, our sports are different. But the mindset is very similar. The sacrifice is the same.”

An ‘amazing journey’

Lloyd has been patient with sports shut down all over the pandemic, and the time has offered her a chance to look back at what’s been probably the most greatest women’s soccer careers ever. From her first cap in 2005 to where she is now, it hasn’t been easy but it’s been more rewarding than she could have imagined.

Lloyd said she never thought she’d have a decorated international career that has featured almost 300 caps and 123 goals.

“My journey. Everything that I’ve gone through,” Lloyd said. “It is the whole [career]. My first cap, July of 2005 against Ukraine. That was once the start of this amazing journey. Never in a million years I thought I would have accomplished what I have accomplished.”

She’s able to add more accomplishments when soccer returns.

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