Women's World Cup: USWNT Boss Labels Criticism from Legend Carli Lloyd as "insane"

• Carli Lloyd blasted the USA Women’s team for their wild celebrations despite a drab draw against Portugal
• The USWNT barely made it past the group stage, and will now face the winners of Group G
• The team’s coach, Vlatko Andonovski, has since responded to the criticism with a blunt statement

USWNT boss, Vlatko Andonovski has instantly hit back at criticism from the national side’s legend, Carli Lloyd.

Lloyd, who was working as a Fox Sports analyst on Tuesday, August 1, was thoroughly critical of the USA’s performance as they barely scraped past the group stage with a 0-0 draw against debutants Portugal.

In truth, the USWNT, ranked first by FIFA in the world standings, were lacklustre, and barely looked like they would break through a resolute Portuguese defence.

As reported on BBC, Portugal nearly caused one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history as Ana Capeta hit the post in the 91st minute, but it was not meant to be.

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Lloyd, who guided the USA women’s team to two World Cup triumphs, did not appreciate the performance and made her feelings clear, saying, as per Fox News:

“I’m just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking-it-for-granted, where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening.”

Andonovski’s response

In his rejoinder, Andonovski boldly called her criticism “insane”.

“The one thing I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else,” he said.

“They’ve put everything they could in preparation for this tournament and every game that they go into, so to question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it’s insane.”

After their draw, the USA will now come up against the Group G winners, and it will likely be high-flying Sweden.

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Sports Brief also reported on Michy Batshuayi’s compliment towards England starlet Lauren James after she scored once again at the World Cup.

James scored two goals - both of which were bangers - and assisted three goals before making way for Ella Toone in the 81st minute.

The 22-year-old Chelsea Women's star was tipped to light up the tournament in Australia and New Zealand and has not disappointed.