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Lloyd will add another honor to her collection when she is inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas, on May 3, 2025. She was elected in her first year of eligibility on the Players Ballot.

When she retired in 2021, Lloyd did so as the ultimate big-game player, having made history with a Women’s World Cup final hat-trick and scored match-winning goals in every Olympic medal match she’d been involved in.

Back in 2008, however, the jury was out and Lloyd herself was going through “a really tough and challenging time”. She had been part of a US team humbled 4-0 by Brazil at the previous year’s Women’s World Cup, and the absence of talismanic striker Abby Wambach was dampening hopes of a better outcome in the Beijing rematch with Marta and Co.

However, in the sixth minute of extra time, Lloyd burst through from midfield and lashed home a left-foot shot to earn redemption for herself, and gold for her country. “I found that sixth gear,” she would later say. “What makes me special is just finding an opportunity and seizing that moment.”

Four years later, Lloyd would cement her status in the same fixture with a match-winning double as USA beat Japan 2-1 at Wembley to avenge their Women’s World Cup final loss of the previous year. “A goal in Beijing, and now two today. At my third Olympics I’m planning on scoring a hat-trick!” she declared afterwards.

While Lloyd didn’t quite manage that, another brace in the bronze-medal match in Tokyo saw her bow out with more goals in this tournament than any other US player.

While Lloyd has been retired from professional soccer for over two years, her competitive nature and desire to improve have not diminished. In 2023, she was featured on the inaugural season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” in which 16 recruits were thrust into rigorous training exercises meant to mimic those of the U.S. Special Forces. Lloyd won the challenge, beating out athletes like former NBA star Dwight Howard and former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola.

While training for golf isn’t exactly the same as training for the special forces, it still comes with its challenges, she said.

"I don't walk back on anything I said," Lloyd said. "I speak from experience, being part of the team, I played with a lot of those players, played under Vlatko [Andonovski], was still very much a part of that cycle. I unfortunately saw the trajectory of where the team was heading. Unfortunately it was not a good performance, and what I said was exactly how I felt and came from the heart."

Lloyd added that USWNT wasn't fit enough at the recent World Cup and compared the team's efforts to those of England, which reached the final for the first time in its history.

"We have all the resources poured in, we have the talent pool, we have the support, we have the experience, and so there's all this narrative of 'the world has caught up,' but in my opinion the team wasn't fit enough, the team didn't show that mentality that is needed to win like you're seeing with England," Lloyd said.