Carli Lloyd will not rejoin the Houston Dash until Monday of next week, ruling her out for the club’s Saturday visit to Western New York. The news was first reported by Corey Roepken of the Houston Chronicle. Lloyd’s Dash and U.S. teammate Morgan Brian is with the club and is expected to play on Saturday.
Dash coach Randy Waldrum said Carli Lloyd told him she will be back with team Monday. That is 17 days after USA Olympic team was eliminated.
— Corey Roepken (@RipSports) August 23, 2016
Lloyd recently tweeted to a fan that she would be at the Dash’s next home match on September 3 against the Orlando Pride but did not mention either the trip to Western New York or next Wednesday’s game in Boston. A year ago, Lloyd appeared ready to suit up for the Dash a week after scoring a hat trick in the World Cup final. Ultimately all 22 NWSL players on the team elected to sit out the weekend and a record Dash crowd of 13,025 were uanble to see Lloyd or her world championship teammates in uniform.
The 2016 appears different with Brian back in the team and Lloyd still nearly a week away from rejoining the squad. In last week’s makeup game, also involving the Dash, Spirit defender Ali Krieger met the team in Houston and played 90 minutes. That was six days after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup by Sweden. No other U.S. players from either team were at the match. Australian goalkeeper Lydia Williams arrived back in Houston and was on the bench but was not part of the active roster.
Dash coach Randy Waldrum sounded off following that game about the lack of communication regarding the return of players who participated in the Olympics. Comments begin and 3:55 with more at 5:55. Keep in mind Waldrum was speaking before Canada and Brazil played in the Olympic bronze medal match the following day.
Information from other NWSL clubs has been scant. The Spirit say their U.S. players were scheduled to rejoin the club this week but that Canadian players would get the week off. Roepken said the Dash should have their Canadian and Australian players with the team this week but that how much they play in Western New York was up in the air.
