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“It’s just such a huge moment in time for women’s sports right now,” Lloyd tells Variety. “It’s no longer ‘Oh, we’re going to support this women’s team because it’s the fun thing to do.’ No, people are doing it because it’s actually a great investment. Brands and companies are seeing that more and more. The Women’s World Cup popularity has grown, around the world women’s soccer is doing well. It’s getting more resources and more support.”

"I’m excited to officially be on board for the summer and back with FOX Sports after the fantastic experience with the broadcast team at the men’s World Cup a few months ago," Lloyd said in a news release on Tuesday. "This will be my first (FIFA Women's) World Cup since the amazing run we had in France in 2019, and I’m really looking forward to channeling those memories and sharing my insights when the tournament kicks off in July."

“Had I been still playing, I would not be able to do this and risk injury,” Carli told us at the Special Forces red carpet event. “So for me, I think that I was just coming into this retirement phase, just kind of navigating through that and it was going to be another challenge. I challenged myself on the soccer field for so long and I wanted to see what I was made of.”

Carli added, “The last 24 hours  were absolute torture. I don’t even know the place that I went to, but I went to a deep dark place and just tried to think of happy thoughts knowing that I was almost at the finish line. But I just kept telling myself I just didn’t want to quit. That was my main goal. I couldn’t bring myself to quit. Whatever I had to do to get through it, I was going to do so. It was extremely rewarding, and I felt incredibly proud and just pushed my limits  to a mental capacity that I really didn’t know I had in me. I think it was pretty badass that Hannah and I were the two that are victorious and made it through.”

 

The only way to leave the competition is to give up through failure, potential injury, or by force from the Directing Staff. Viewers will see the recruits face the harshest of environments that simulate the highly classified selection process, pushing themselves in a way they have never been challenged before. See more photos of ‘Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test’ in our gallery now.

In the studio, hosts Kate Abdo and Rob Stone will analyze each match with rotating analysts, including Alexi Lalas, Carli Lloyd, Chad Johnson, Clint Dempsey, Eni Aluko, Kelly Smith and Maurice Edu. They will be supported...

For many brands, that might have been a deal breaker—why make a major investment in an athlete just as she was leaving the global stage? But Symbodi, the Canadian manufacturer of a wall-mounted massage device, didn’t flinch. And the more chief operating officer Aaron Turner thought about it, the more this seemed like an opportunity.

“Carli is extremely decorated, but now that she starts this new chapter in life, it’s really interesting the story that we get to tell over this four-year partnership—how she is using recovery in her day-to-day life and not just how she views recovery for her job,” he says, adding, “You can only tell so many stories of her competing at the top level.”