Retired USWNT champion Carli Lloyd has doubled down on her criticism of the U.S. soccer team after their early exit at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Lloyd previously was critical of the USWNT culture when players were dancing and cheering after a scoreless 0-0 tie which advanced them to the Round of 16. After a disappointing loss to Sweden in the Round of 16 which sent the USWNT packing for home following hype of a U.S. three-peat, Lloyd stands by her comments.

“I was at the tail end of what I saw was a regression with the team, which wasn't good enough in Tokyo. The team was disjointed, was not a unit, and the coaching was not what this team needed. So I saw this, I felt this, I experienced this. I wasn’t truly confident in this team winning the World Cup. That’s not because of the lack of talent or the lack of players wanting to win. Every player wants to win. But there are certain steps and processes that you have to go through in order to win. There’s a certain formula that a championship team has,” per Richard Deitsch of The Athletic.

“I was very vocal two years ago when I exited and talked about the culture and the lack of respect that had been there amongst the team. It’s not everybody, right? But you have to have everybody on the same page. I was very vocal and got trashed. I was vocal before the tournament when people asked me who is going to win the World Cup, and I honestly said, I don’t know if the U.S. can win it. I mean, on paper they can potentially win it. But there’s more that goes into that.

Carli Lloyd was part of two World Cup winning teams in 2015 and 2019 and known for having a hat-trick in the 2015 World Cup Final win over Japan. She was a part of the U.S. senior women's national team from 2005-2021 when she retired. Since retiring, she has taken on a commentating role.