FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
There’s no real downside. The
backlash over the mere
possibility of this happening
should serve as motivation for
Lloyd to give football a try. She’s
a longtime member of the U.S.
women’s national soccer team,
perhaps the most formidable
cage-rattling team for change in
sports. It’s only natural that
Lloyd would attempt the
impossible.
You can look at her merely as
a woman trying to break though
in football. But Lloyd is so much
more than that. She’s an iconic
soccer player curious about her
athletic limits. Only the great
ones have such audacity.
If success requires Lloyd to
make an NFL roster — in a
sport she’s taking up in her late
30s — she probably can’t win.
Stephen Curry, a scratch golfer,
couldn’t quit the NBA next year
and make the PGA To ur. But if
he tried and failed, he still
would be Stephen Curry, just as
she still will be Carli Lloyd. So
there’s no losing, either.
For Lloyd, the experiment
would be one of greatness, not
gender, not even sanity. It
would be her opportunity, in a
new and uneasy environment,
to utilize the traits that have
made her elite in soccer and see
how they translate to
something that won’t feel as
natural.
There’s great value, meaning
and depth in such a pursuit.
Lloyd should follow her
instincts and invite the pressure
one more time.
[email protected]Fo r more by Jerry Brewer, visit
washingtonpost.com/brewer.could complicate that timeline.
And then came reports of a
couple of NFL teams having
some level of interest in trying
her out. Now, Carli kickin’ is a
thing.
It’s one of those what-if
sports stories that we can’t
resist debating. The dissenters
are loud and obvious with their
takes. What if she always needs
a running start like on the 55-
yarder and doesn’t have power
or accuracy using the
traditional two-step approach?
(Yeah, as if she’s going to try out
without knowing she can
handle the footwork.) What if
an NFL team just wants to use
her for a preseason PR stunt?
(For one, Lloyd is too proud and
competitive to allow herself to
be a sideshow. And uptight NFL
teams are inclined to hate those
kinds of distractions.)
What if Lloyd, listed at 5-
foot-8 and 140 pounds, gets
pummeled by some very big
man on a kickoff or after a
blocked kick? (A concern, sure,
but it’s not like kickers must be
as physical as linebackers. In
19 NFL seasons, 260-pound
Sebastian Janikowski was
credited with 19 tackles.)
Lloyd wouldn’t put herself
through the scrutiny without
careful consideration of all that
could go wrong. But as a
competitor, she would focus
mostly on what she thinks she
can do.
“You need to have thick skin
— mentally tough, mentally
strong,” Lloyd said. “I invite
pressure. I love pressure. I’ve
got all of that ticked off. Now
it’s just a matter of knowing I
can do it and go from there.”winning two World Cups and
two Olympic gold medals and
being awarded two FIFA player
of the year awards in her
primary sport, her legitimacy as
an athlete isn’t on the line.
Let’s not pretend otherwise.
It’s quite easy and dangerous
for male chauvinism to take
over and cast Lloyd’s
moonlighting as some grand
opportunity to prove herself.
That’s insulting. Lloyd doesn’t
need the NFL to cement her
legacy. She just wants a side
challenge, and if she does follow
through, I’m more interested in
what we can learn about
greatness when it lands in an
unfamiliar, uncomfortable
environment.
It’s the same curiosity as
when Michael Jordan retired
and gave baseball a try. Even
though he was ridiculed for
going from the world’s greatest
basketball player to a minor
league outfielder with a
.202 batting average, it was
quite remarkable that he could
change sports on a whim and
actually have a few moments
amid his failure. Then he
returned to hoops and
commenced being Michael
Jordan, and when we discuss
his legacy, baseball is merely a
footnote. As time has passed,
history tends to refer to that
excursion more in the context
of a mourning Jordan needing
baseball to get past his father’s
murder or as Jordan being so
dominant in basketball that he
needed a fresh challenge.
The list of successful
multisport professionals is
incredibly short. Even the
people famous for pulling it off,
such as Bo Jackson, usually
couldn’t attach longevity to the
feat. There’s an impossibility to
it all, especially for Lloyd, who
has no place kicking
background. And for a
legendary athlete, that’s
probably the best part of the
idea. That’s also why you should
be careful to attach the wrong
kind of significance to the
pursuit.
When footage emerged of
Lloyd playing around and
splitting the uprights from
55 yards away last week at a
Philadelphia Eagles practice, it
created a buzz, and it was
harmless and fun. Then Lloyd
turned serious about giving
kicking a try, perhaps next year,
though the 2020 Olympics
BREWER FROM D1
BY CHUCK CULPEPPERnew york — Let u s check now on
the wildly talented and chronical-
ly overlooked men we might call
the Best Young Underlings. They
have tender ages and gaudy rank-
ings. They also dwell in the over-
shadowed s paces j ust beneath the
big three — sorry, Big Three. That
means they operate beneath one
of the most impenetrable ceilings
in the history of human competi-
tion.
They’re the ones primed to
break through to the top someday
when Roger Federer, 38, Rafael
Nadal, 33, and Novak Djokovic,
32, fade away, which, given the
evidence of recent years, appears
it will happen in the mid-century,
around the time the Big Three
finally become septuagenarians.
This U.S. Open isn’t all that far
underway, and already they’re
down to two underlings who
might topple the stubborn, stub-
born order: a 6-foot-6 guy who
might get to 200 pounds if he ate a
few cupcakes (No. 6 Alexander
Zverev of Germany) and a 6-6 guy
who might get to 200 pounds if he
ate a few hundred cupcakes (No. 5
Daniil Medvedev of Russia).
A whole batch of underlings
has departed.
Fourth-ranked Dominic Thiem
of Austria, 25, who unthinkably
snared finalist spots from the Big
Three during the past two French
Opens before taking the kind of
drubbing only Nadal can admin-
ister, has departed. It wasn’t his
fault. He had a virus that forced
his withdrawal from the Cincin-
nati hard-court tuneup. He tried
here because you never know.
“But it was not the real me
there on the court,” he said of his
6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, first-round loss
to No. 87 Thomas Fabbiano of
Italy.
Eighth-ranked Stefanos Ts itsi-
pas of Greece, 21, who reached the
Australian Open semifinals and
beat Federer along the way before
taking the kind of drubbing only
Nadal can administer, has depart-
ed. After his 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (9-7),
7-5, first-round loss to No. 43
Andrey Rublev, who looks like a
Best Underling in the making,
Ts itsipas said one of those things
that could make you admire the
Big Three all the more.
He described the tour life rath-
er evocatively.
“I feel like I’m doing the same
thing over and over again, and my
brain can’t r eally take it anymore,”
he said at age 21. “I feel like I’m
doing the same routines on the
court, the same execution the
same — I mean, same strategies
and everything. And I feel like my
mind is just — I don’t feel in-
spired. I play out on the court, and
I don’t feel like I’m chasing some-
thing.”
No. 9 Karen Khachanov of Rus-
sia, 23, who reached the French
Open quarterfinals, has departed,
falling to a 216th-ranked playerwho has been No. 25, Vasek Pospi-
sil of mighty Canada, in five sets,
in the first round. No. 12 Borna
Coric of Croatia, 22, withdrew
before the second round with a
rebellious back. Much-awaited
No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime, 19,
played a much-anticipated, all-
Canadian, first-round match
against No. 33 Denis Shapovalov,
which Canadian women’s bud-
ding star Bianca Andreescu called
“a popcorn match.”
It fizzled. Shapovalov won, 6-1,
6-1, 6-4, and Auger-Aliassime
said: “I don’t even know what my
emotions are regarding that
match. I don’t know if I should be
frustrated, sad. I’m not sure. Yeah,
to be honest, about the game, I
couldn’t figure out really what todo.”
Asked about injuries, he said,
“No, I’m fine.”
Among the hard chargers at t he
impossible ceiling, that leaves
Medvedev, 23, and Zverev, 22.
Medvedev has been the shooting
star of the summer, with a 14-2
record in reaching finals in Wash-
ington and Montreal and winning
Cincinnati. Zverev has been on
court again with Frances Tiafoe,
the marvel of College Park,
ranked 45th at age 21.
Friends since they were wee
sprites if ever they were, Zverev
and Tiafoe had a big hug on
Thursday, just after they tussled
and tussled until Zverev won, 6-3,
3-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Zverev, who
reached the past two French O penquarterfinals, found his way to his
second straight U.S. Open third
round.
But it’s rough out there, and
whereas Zverev breezed through
Tiafoe when they met at the 20 17
Wimbledon, Tiafoe looked at his
improvement and his Australian
Open quarterfinal and said: “It’s
night and day. Different player,
different person. I mean, yeah, I
mean, obviously I’ve had a ton of
success since then. Yeah, I mean,
it’s night and day. Obviously the
outcomes s howed it. Yeah, I mean,
I had a ton of chances today.”
So Zverev moved along, if un-
evenly, and that leaves Medvedev
as the leading candidate for up-
heaval should a nyone in the world
wish to see the Big Three upend-ed, which apparently no one does.
Medvedev has gone through
two rounds in seven sets after a
summer of which he said, “I was
making my opponents doubt a lot
what they should do to beat me,
and I lost just two matches” — to
Nadal and Nick Kyrgios, the Citi
Open champion seeded 28th
here. Over on the grandstand in
the corner of the premises with
the jets to LaGuardia Airport visi-
ble nearby, he overcame what ap-
peared to be some wretched
cramps Thursday in his 6-3, 7-5,
5-7, 6-3 win over Hugo Dellien of
Bolivia. “Cramp is not an injury,”
he reminded cheerily and hope-
fully.
He also said: “Of course, as
everybody says, before the tour-
nament I was one of the favorites.
Probably unconsciously I was
looking in the second week, at the
draw. As I said, I’m trying to
convince myself to look at match
by match.”
The best of the Best Underlings
at the moment is an affable guy in
his 12th Grand Slam with one visit
to a fourth round (2019 Austral-
ian Open) so far. “Well, look,”
Djokovic said after Medvedev
beat him in Cincinnati. “You
know, he deserves to be in the mix,
certainly, with all his results. He’s
working his way to top five of the
world. He’s definitely one of the
best players in the world at this
moment. He deserves to be in the
contention for the championship
in New York. But again, it’s b est of
five. It’s two weeks. It’s a Grand
Slam. It’s a different environment,
different experience. It just takes,
you know, much more, I think,
than just your game. I think it
takes patience and ability t o know
how to deal with all the off-court
things, the importance of a Slam.”
And Medvedev himself said: “I
always say at this moment of my
career I haven’t even been in the
quarters of a Slam yet. So that’s
the first step to make, and if I
make this step, then I can talk
about bigger goals and bigger
achievements.”
And while Medvedev did look
heady, the eternal ceiling did look
hard.
[email protected]Medvedev, Zverev are last threats remaining for Big Three
KEVIN HAGEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sixth-ranked Alexander Zverev survived a five-set match against Frances Tiafoe on Thursday to move to the third round of the U.S. Open.JERRY BREWER
Why should Lloyd kick? Well, why not?
BY STEVEN GOFFphiladelphia — Bands of mini-
vans from up and down the north-
east streamed into south Phila-
delphia on Thursday, carrying
fans sporting U.S. women’s s occer
jerseys, red-white-and-blue
scarves and the pink hair of hero
Megan Rapinoe.
By the time everyone settled
into Lincoln Financial Field to
salute the World Cup champions
for their 4-0 victory over Portugal,
they had set an attendance record
for a women’s friendly: 49,504,
demolishing the previous mark
set four years ago in Pittsburgh by
more than 5,000.
The U.S. players are bona fide
rock stars, and at the start of a
holiday weekend less than two
months removed from lifting the
gold trophy in France, they
brought out the crowd to a major
football venue.
On the second stop of a five-
game victory tour celebrating
their fourth world title, the Amer-
icans rewarded the family-orient-
ed crowd with a 15th consecutive
victory, their longest streak in 23
years.
“Just to see the growth has
been amazing, even in just my
[5^1 / 2 -year] tenure to see the fans
and the popularity of this team,”
Coach Jill Ellis said. “It speaks
volume about our sport. The
World Cup was such a world-
showcased event that people get
on board.
“This is an exciting team, great
personalities. Ultimately, what
does a fan want? Entertainment,
and that’s what they get with this
group.”
Captain Carli Lloyd, who
kicked field goals at Eagles’ train-
ing camp last week, saluted the
NFL team in the 52nd minute by
flapping her arms after scoring
her 115th international goal.
To bin Heath and Morgan Brian
scored early in the match, and
Allie Long added one late.
The top-ranked Americans
have won all eight meetings with
No. 30 Portugal, which has never
qualified for the World Cup.
The teams will next head to
Minnesota for a second meeting
Tuesday in St. Paul. The tour will
conclude with matches against
South Korea in Charlotte on Oct. 3
and Chicago on Oct. 6, Ellis’s last
acts before yielding to a new or
interim coach for two friendlies
in November.
Thursday’s gathering was thefirst since two notable off-field
events unfolded: Kate Markgraf,
a former World Cup defender, was
named the first women’s team
general manager and mediation
talks between the U.S. Soccer Fed-
eration and the players suing over
gender discrimination abruptly
collapsed.
Markgraf’s first major task is
overseeing the coaching search.
Barring a legal settlement, the
USSF and players will go to court
in May.
The friction between manage-
ment and employees continues,
and so does the on-field success,
which the players have used as an
argument for better pay.
A few “Equal pay!” chants
broke out, but for the most part it
was a lighthearted evening.
“We want to continue to pave
the way and continue to make
things better for the next genera-
tion,” Lloyd said. “Hopefully, we
can sit down with [the federa-
tion] again and figure things out
because we need to be able to
work together and need this to be
a win-win for both parties.”
Regular starters Rapinoe, Alex
Morgan, Rose Lavelle and Kelley
O’Hara were sidelined with inju-
ries, and with another game less
than a week away, Ellis fielded a
mixed lineup and made all six
permissible substitutions by early
in the second half.
Midfielder Julie Ertz played in
the same home venue as her hus-
band, Philadelphia Eagles tight
end Zach Ertz. With the U.S. team
using the Eagles’ locker room,
Julie took Zach’s space, only with
her name plate instead of his.
Zach Ertz, who attended a por-
tion of the World Cup, missed
Thursday’s match because of thepreseason finale against the New
York Jets.
The soccer team made quick
work of the visitors, scoring twice
shortly after kickoff. Christen
Press crossed to Heath for an easy
putaway in the fourth minute and
served a corner kick to Brian for a
five-yard header in the 18th.
It w as reminiscent of the World
Cup, where the Americans made a
habit of striking early.
In the second half, Lloyd half-
volleyed from close range, and
Long scored on a header. She, too,
flapped her arms like an Eagles
fan, though she is a Long Islander.
“When I stepped on the field, I
just kind of felt it would be fitting
to do it,” said Lloyd, who is from
Delran, N.J., a Philadelphia sub-
urb. “I am not sure why Allie did
it. I don’t think she is an Eagles
fan. I am going to have to talk to
her about keeping that to my
celebration.”
Notes: A proposed friendly at
Audi Field on Nov. 7 will not
happen, a USSF spokesman said.
The sides have a signed contract,
but the visit has been tentatively
deferred to early 2020 for a single
match or a multi-team tourna-
ment format, such as Olympic
qualifying.
The venues and opponents for
the two November friendlies will
be announced in the coming
weeks....
Ali Krieger, a veteran defender
from Dumfries, Va., was not with
the team because of a family
matter. She also will miss Tues-
day’s game....
Washington Spirit attacker
Mallory Pugh, slowed by a hip
flexor for several weeks, entered
in the second half.
[email protected]U.S. women deliver for record crowd
UNITED STATES 4,
PORTUGAL 0MATT SLOCUM/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Christen Press assisted on goals by Tobin Heath and Morgan Brian
in the first 18 minutes, thrilling an adoring crowd of 49,504.MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. soccer star Carli Lloyd created a buzz Aug. 20 when she kicked
a 55-yard field goal during a Ravens-Eagles practice.