Former women's national team member Carli Lloyd and Fox Sports analyst Stu Holden believe the USWNT should not view the Paris Olympics as a developmental tournament and must focus on regaining their dominance.
When it comes to the United States national soccer teams, the emphasis has been on the men as they head into a crucial summer between Copa América and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Meanwhile, it's expected the women's national team will have an easier time in Paris as one of the favorites to capture gold in the Olympics. But after a failed trip to Australia in the Women's World Cup last year as well as a group stage match loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup this year, former USWNT member Carli Lloyd was blunt about how the U.S. stacks up against the rest of the competition these days.
"Yes the whole world has caught up… but I actually hate when people say that because the #USWNT started to regress at 2020 Olympics and have gone backwards," Lloyd wrote in a social media post in February. ".. now they have to rebuild and claw and climb their way back up #NoOneFearsTheUswntanymore."
Former men's national team member and current Fox Sports soccer analyst Stu Holden couldn't agree with Lloyd more.
"You look at the soccer Spain played in the World Cup was some of the best I’ve seen," Holden told Fox News Digital while discussing his love for Lotto, the Italian premier sports and lifestyle brand. "England played some wonderful soccer in the Women’s World Cup last summer."
These teams have taken the game seriously now, and they’ve invested significantly in their infrastructure, youth development, and it’s all starting to now pay off years and years later. They saw the potential for the sport and young girls that wanted to play and needed avenues to play. You’re going to continue to see that to grow."
Holden likened the U.S. women's team to how Brazil was always dominant on the men's side with Pele leading the way, but the rest of the world eventually caught up with their team development. European powerhouses like Germany, France and Spain came around, though Brazil seems to have always been among the favorites to make a World Cup Final run or capture gold at the Olympics.
The USWNT is among the top three in the world, Holden said, but they are not unequivocally the best. In fact, they haven't been able to capture gold at the Olympics since 2012. That's why he thinks a winning performance at the Paris Olympics is paramount to restore the fear that may be lost for this group.
"I’ve seen and heard people talk about this tournament, including my colleague, Alexi Lalas, of, ‘Well, this Olympics is like a development tournament for the U.S., and it’s going to be
