Last year was one of the worst of Carli Lloyd’s otherwise-epic soccer career. She contracted COVID-19 (she thinks), didn’t play a game for her National Women’s Soccer League team, started just five matches for the women’s national team, saw the Olympics postponed and underwent surgery for the first time.
It was also one of the best years of her life, though, because the down time allowed her to reconnect with a family from which she has long been estranged.
“It’s probably been the most touching year that I’ve ever had,” Lloyd said by phone from Stockholm, where the U.