Women's World Cup winner keen to try out for new sport; 37-year-old says being demoted to bench in France was "worst time of my life"
Wednesday 16 October 2019 08:27, UK
Two-time Women's World Cup winner Carli Lloyd says she is seriously considering a future as a pro kicker in the NFL.
A viral video of Lloyd kicking a 55-yard field goal at a Philadelphia Eagles practice in August sparked interest that the USA international midfielder could become the first woman to compete in the NFL.
"I want to try it," Lloyd told former USA international Julie Foudy on the Laughter Permitted podcast.
"I want to put a helmet on, I want to put pads on, I want to kick with two steps. And then see from there,"
Lloyd told Faudy that two teams had wanted her to play in a preseason game, though a conflict prevented it.
The 37-year-old said she had "a couple years" of association football left in her career, and that she hopes to compete in the 2020 Olympic Games - though she left open the possibility of being "loaned out a bit for a couple preseason NFL games" in the meantime.
Lloyd has twice been voted as the best player in the world, and has scored 113 goals in 281 international appearances for her country.
But a nasty ankle injury sustained while playing for Houston Dash in 2017 led to her demotion to the bench at this year's Women's World Cup, an episode which Lloyd described as "the rock bottom of my entire career".
"I'm not going to lie and sugarcoat it - it was absolutely the worst time of my life," said Lloyd, who started and scored twice in the USA's 3-0 group-stage win over Chile but had to settle for coming on as a substitute in their other six games at the tournament.
"It affected my relationship with my husband, with friends. It really was the rock bottom of my entire career.
"I think what helped me the most were my team-mates. My team-mates, they had my back."
