Almost twenty days ago, we found ourselves at the Tom Bradley International terminal at LAX. We would be on 13 flights before we would return again to Los Angeles. Thanks again to our unique situation and flexibility in choosing flights, we decided to fly to Minneapolis on our way home to watch the US Women’s soccer team play a friendly match against South Korea. This would be a historic match as it was Carli Lloyd’s final game for the national team.
They had played a friendly match against Korea about a week prior that ended in an uninspired 0-0 draw. We hoped for a different score line this time around. Having packed suitcases for tropical islands, however, we did not have any thick jackets, hats, or gloves for a chilly evening in St. Paul, Minnesota. Luckily my friend Greg and his lady friend, who were driving up from Madison, Wisconsin, offered to bring us some warmer clothes.
Our flight from Newark to Minneapolis was the first time that Nicole and I had to sit apart. We were each in middle seats on a Delta A319 sandwiched between people taking advantage of the free alcohol in Comfort+. Just shy of two hours later, we touched down in Minneapolis and grabbed a Lyft to our hotel in downtown St Paul since a rental car would have cost nearly $100 for a day.
Our hotel is inside an old convent named the Celeste. It is very unique to say the least. While it has been made into a sort of chic boutique hotel, it has embraced the nun theme. Portraits of nuns adorn the nightstands and framed photos of nuns playing baseball or riding tractors grace the walls. The WiFi password was “sisterjane.”
After getting settled and getting some takeout, we all set out for Allianz stadium in St Paul. It would be a near sellout crowd taking in Carli Lloyd’s final match. It must be a difficult thing to decide when to retire from a sport. Do you wait until the very last moment when your skills have deteriorated and you find yourself cut from the team entirely? Or do you do as Carli and go out in the best shape of your life, the top of your game, in hopes of ending it on a high note.
Carli played for the first 65 minutes of the match until getting subbed for Alex Morgan in an emotional exit from the pitch. While she herself did not get a goal during the game, she was close on numerous occasions and worked alongside a team that scored six goals having been scoreless the previous match. Having had a disappointing olympics, the US team had reclaimed a glimmer of early 2020 when they were firing on all cylinders.
The starting lineup was unique and emblematic of a team in transition. Carli had been positioned as a center forward between two of the newest and youngest members of the team. She had been playing since 2005 when her two teammates left and right were just children. Filling out the midfield were other new players mixing with some of the veterans. Same with the back line, and even the goalie was someone who rarely gets any playing time.
The new coach has been trying to better mix the newer, younger players with the veterans who won that 2019 World Cup. He bases his choices more on player abilities than his predecessor who played favorites and mind games. Lloyd was an unfortunate casualty of that coaching style. Carli is far from the only player that was overlooked by past coaches. Lynn Williams, Sophia Smith, Andi Sullivan, and Emily Fox took to the field that night in hopes of proving themselves. In the past, they would have never gotten the chance.
After a shocking performance in the 2015 World Cup final, during which Carli Lloyd scored a hat trick within 16 minutes including a ludicrous shot from halfway down the field, she found herself on the bench. That coach felt that Carli had proven enough and reduced her presence on the field. Lloyd’s distaste for this role as a super sub was well-known and referred to the 2019 World Cup (which the US won handedly), as one of the most disappointing tournaments of her life having played in just a couple of the matches. It was only after that coach left after the World Cup victory and a new one was hired that she found herself getting playing time once again. She has been called ungrateful, selfish, difficult, inspiring, outspoken, tenacious, and most recently the Greatest of All Time.
After the game, Carli made an emotional speech and her teammates took a lap around the stadium. Nicole and I made signs. I made one for my favorite player, Becky Sauerbrunn, perhaps the most unassuming player on the team. She is instrumental in the fight for equal pay and is often regarded as the brains of the team. She is a defender and has never scored a goal, so I played into that by making a sign that said, “Bend it like Becky!!!” When she walked by, she pointed and laughed, acknowledging my wittiness no doubt. Nicole had one that said, “See you next year, Carli!!!,” a reference to the notion that Carli is too intense and driven to ever fully step away from the game.
Greg and Emily drove us back to our convent in downtown St Paul and we tried to warm up next to the numerous pictures of nuns. After an excellent night’s sleep, Nicole had what she described as the best breakfast ever in the hotel’s “chapel.” The cereal selection was on point and the options plentiful. Fueled with the best breakfast ever, we took a Lyft back to the airport and took our final flight of a rather epic journey that started in Copenhagen and somehow ended in Minneapolis. After all this time, though, it was time to go home.
passports & pepto bismol 