The US women’s national soccer team has continued its pattern of social justice displays during the Olympics despite the international competition’s rules against the practice. The team has stood for the playing of the national anthem before matches, but has later taken knees over racism.
Prior to the US’ bronze medal game on Thursday against Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Carli Lloyd did not kneel.
Lloyd, along with Lindsey Horan and Julie Ertz, were among the few members of the team to stand for the national anthem during friendlies over the fall. Other members kneeled during the national anthem before later deciding in February to begin standing again.
Since the time Megan Rapinoe began kneeling in 2016, Lloyd expressed her opinion on the matter. She said at the time that while she supported Rapinoe, she found the situation to be distracting to the team. She felt the focus switched from the team and its performance to questions and topics about protests.
Lloyd and Rapinoe both scored two goals in the US’ 4-3 win over Australia. The bronze medal finish was a disappointing one for the team. Some feel the team’s core has just aged and it showed. Others feel that much like Lloyd said in the past, the team lacked focused due to an emphasis on political issues.
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