World Cup 2023: USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski calls Carli Lloyd’s comments about team ‘insane’

Portugal v USA: Group E - FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - AUGUST 01: Vlatko Andonovski, Head Coach of USA, speaks to the media in the post match press conference after the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group E match between Portugal and USA at Eden Park on August 01, 2023 in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) (Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski didn’t appreciate one of his former players questioning his team.

Soon after ex-USWNT captain Carli Lloyd called out her former teammates for celebrating following a disappointing 0-0 draw with Portugal, Andonovski called Lloyd's comments "insane."

"This team wanted to win this game more than anything," Andonovski said after the game. "To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think is insane.

"It's not like we played well, by any means. We owned it. We know it's not good enough. We're not happy with our performance. But we qualified for the next round. We're moving on."

Lloyd, now an analyst for Fox Sports, specifically admonished the team's decision to celebrate with fans after the game.

"I have never witnessed something like that," Lloyd said following the Portugal game. "There's a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family. But to be dancing, to be smiling — I mean, the player of that match was that post. You're lucky to not be going home right now."

Although the draw sent the U.S. to the round of 16, the team failed to silence any doubt that crept up on the two-time defending World Cup champions from the previous two matches — a 3-0 win over Vietnam and 1-1 draw with Netherlands. The 2019 runner-up Dutch, meanwhile, cruised to a wild 7-0 win over Vietnam.

This isn't the first time she's questioned her old team. In 2022, Lloyd said she "hated" the last few years of her career on the USWNT because "the culture within the team was the worst I'd ever seen it." Although she didn't mentioned specifics, the U.S. went through a coaching change in 2019 when Andonovski was hired after Jill Ellis stepped down.

Lloyd, 41, played 100 matches for the U.S. team from 2007-2021 before she retired after the 2021 Toyko Olympics. She scored 51 goals during her international career, including 10 in four Olympic competitions and 10 in four World Cups.

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