Carli Lloyd dreams big as she chases third Olympic gold

Jaime Bula is a mother of two from a small Pennsylvania town, a baker of killer cupcakes and the person Carli Lloyd always wanted to be. Five years before Lloyd came through Delran (N.J.) High School, Bula starred in soccer, basketball and softball at the suburban Philadelphia school, a girl who was smart, talented and popular, a fierce competitor on the field and a kind person off it.

When Lloyd had to choose a number for her first appearance with the U.S. women’s national team in 2005, she went for 22 — the number Bula wore.

“I used to tell myself, ‘If I could ever be as good as Jaime, that would be a dream come true,’” says Lloyd, who later switched to No. 10.

Bula laughs. “I think she may have gotten to where I was, or pretty darn close,” she says.

Indeed, a week beyond her 34th birthday, Bula’s cousin enters the Rio Olympics not merely as a two-time gold medalist and co-captain of the No. 1-ranked U.S. side, but as FIFA’s reigning world player of the year. It was an honor that Lloyd virtually locked up the moment she scored her third goal in 16 minutes against Japan in last summer’s World Cup final, with that ludicrous strike from just beyond midfield, a feat that instantly morphed Lloyd’s life into a whirl of appearances, endorsements and acclaim, presenting her with the biggest challenge this side of getting Donald Trump to say nice things about Ted Cruz.

How does Lloyd — a self-described underdog who has spent a lifetime in pursuit of proving doubters and naysayers wrong — find motivation now that she is the planet’s most heralded women’s soccer player?

How can you be driven by a perceived lack of respect when your sublime skills and work ethic have made you a two-way midfielder with no equal? Bula is certain it won’t be a problem, and so is U.S. coach Jill Ellis.

“It never seems like it’s smooth sailing for Carli,” Bula says. “She needs that (turbulence.) It’s helped her get where she is. If she was up on a pedestal and everything was great, she’d still find something (to churn the waters).”

Says Ellis, “This is what makes her so good — this constantly having to prove and reprove yourself. If you look at the qualities of the great players, complacency’s not in their language.”

Lloyd’s career has had enough ups and down to make a miniseries. She almost quit the sport in 2003, when she was cut from the under-21 team and told she wasn’t national team caliber. She scored the goal that lifted the USA to the gold medal in Beijing in 2008, then was told by then-coach Pia Sundhage that her contract with the national team was in jeopardy after a lackluster 2009.

She air-mailed a penalty kick in the 2011 World Cup final, came back to be the team’s best player in 2012 Olympic qualifying, only to be benched right before the London Games, which ended with Lloyd scoring both U.S. goals in the gold medal game victory vs. Japan.

Even in last summer’s World Cup, Lloyd’s self-confidence looked as it had been through a meat grinder, so shaken was she by her performance in the first three games. Then came the elimination round: six goals in four games, capped by the greatest performance in the event’s history.

Lloyd clearly has serious survivor skills and a resilience and toughness hard-wired into her by her longtime coach-guru, James Galanis, who has helped turn a player with questionable fitness and accountability into as hard a working player as there is anywhere, one with an indisputable ability to be at her best when it counts the most.

And why stop now?

“There are five valuable years ahead where she can continue to perform at her peak,” Galanis says.

“She knows that if she does well in the future, she can go on to become the most impactful player to ever play the game.”

Coming off a sprained knee that kept her out for nearly three months this spring and summer, Lloyd insists she is completely ready to go, and Galanis agrees, saying her pre-Olympic workouts were the best she has ever had.

Lloyd scored on a header in the rout of Costa Rica last week — her 88th goal for the USA — and says she is ready to bring it.

Lloyd is quick to mention — of course — that she knows that people doubt whether she can be a dominating player at 34 or whether she can make a major impact in Rio after her injury.

No country has won the Olympics after winning the World Cup. So there’s that, too.

Lloyd grew up wanting to be Bula, and now she wants to make Bula proud and stick it one more time to those she calls doubters and haters.

Are they really out there? Maybe. Maybe not.

Lloyd is sure they are, and that’s all that matters.

“I know we are in for a challenging tournament, and that motivates me more than ever,” Lloyd says.

 Coffey is the co-author of Lloyd’s forthcoming memoir, “When Nobody Was Watching.”

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