Carli Lloyd

“Every time I step onto the field, whether people like it or not, I'm not trying to play dirty - I'm just playing tough.”

“If I am training on a holiday, most likely nobody else is - and that gives me the edge. If I'm supposed to run for 20 minutes and I get back and it's only been 19:34, I'm going to jog in a circle for 26 more seconds. I'm never going to cut it short.”

“Any professional athlete will tell you that the mind is everything. For me, there is no shame in saying that I visualize and I meditate, because it really works.”

“At the end of the day, you can be physically strong, you can have all the tools out there, but if your mental state isn't good enough, you can't bring yourself to bigger and better things.”

“I don't just train to be a participant. I train to come up big in big moments. That's when I know I've got to roll the sleeves up.”

“No longer are the days where I just kind of fly under the radar. Everybody's recognizing me. Everybody wants pictures. They feel inspired. It's very cool.”

“I sleep better on the road than I do at home. I'm used to sleeping in a million different hotels. I'm not home very often, so when I get home, I have things I want to do.”

“I don't do fake. That's the first thing you should know about me. I'm not one to put on airs or change my demeanor depending on where I am or who I am talking to.”

“Basically my whole life revolves around soccer. I don't take many vacations. Everything just gets put on the back burner because of my training. I miss out on a lot of weddings and family functions. But at the end of the day, I'm sitting here as a world champion, and it feels pretty good.”

“In those one-off games, everyone can do those, but you put together a six, seven-game tournament, the strong survive. For me to still feel good from beginning to end, that's a testament to how I train and what I do.”

“I had one girl tell me last night that I'm the greatest thing ever, that she wants to aspire to be me. Just stuff like, 'You're my idol. I love you.' It's awesome. It's what it's all about.”

“Playing in Wembley Stadium in front of 83-some-thousand fans to win a gold medal was unreal.”

“In men's sports, people criticize coaches and managers all the time, call out teammates, too, and it's not that huge of a deal. Often, the guy speaking out is even lauded for having the courage to tell the truth. When it happens in women's sports, though, it always seems to be viewed as a nasty, claws-out cat fight.”

“No one is going to remember a second-place team.”

“I have scored some big-time goals. I've done well in Algarve Cups. I've done well in World Cup and Olympic qualifiers, Olympics. In big games when we're playing top-five teams. But yet, you never see my face or my name out there. And it has frustrated me my entire career.”

“Winning the World Cup was a dream come true after so many years of wanting something so bad. After that final whistle, I dropped to the ground on my knees and got emotional.”

“For so long, I've been a little misunderstood as a person. You know, I do have this strut about me. I don't know if it's the Jersey girl in me. I like to think of myself as an egg, you know? Hard on the outside but soft on the inside.”

“I don't think anyone would say that the women on the United States national team are not great role models and ambassadors. Everywhere we go, we connect with fans, sign autographs, and represent our sport and federation with class.”

“I want to be strong. I want to be able to hit people. I want people to be able to bounce off me. When I go out there and play, I play to intimidate people. If someone gets hit down by me, they're going to think twice about coming near me again.”

“My emergence has been slow and steady, I would say. I think I've improved every single year. I keep getting better; I keep getting fitter, sharper - and I'm not stopping.”