'Light years ahead' - Carli Lloyd says USWNT behind European powers such as Spain and England, despite 2024 Olympic gold

With England outlasting Spain for the Euro 2025 title on Sunday, former USWNT star Carli Lloyd said that - even coming off a 2024 Olympic gold medal - Emma Hayes' side is still behind European nations on a global scale.

“It's an interesting debate,” Lloyd said on the State of the Union podcast. “After watching this tournament, I mean, even teams like Switzerland, Italy, you know, Italy, you could argue that they had a little bit of an easier path to get to the semiinal, but they still came out brave. They were tactically flexible. They played really, really well.

“And so, yeah, it kind of got my wheels turning a bit to think about our current US women's national team, where they're at right now. I know that they had just won the Olympics. I still think they're hovering currently right now, third or fourth behind Spain, England - you could throw in Sweden than there."

Lloyd emphasized that while Hayes is working to improve the squad, the team still has significant ground to make up compared to their European counterparts

“I mean, Germany down, down 10 men. Their epic performance was pretty amazing," she said. "But I do still think that there's a bit to go. There's a bit there's a bit more to prove to me. You know what they have as far as the depth. And I know Emma's spending a lot of time getting a lot of different players minutes and caps and doing all that to build the 2027. But Europe is in a really, really good position right now. I mean, Spain is undeniably the best. I think they are light years ahead as far as a playing style.”

FIFA released its latest Women's World Ranking last month, with the United States maintaining their top position. The gap between the Americans and their closest challengers narrowed, with Spain (second) and Germany (third) rising.

Brazil, which split two matches with the USWNT this spring, moved into fourth place, representing a substantial four-position climb in the rankings.

The USWNT are focused on developing ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. They’ll face Portugal twice in October and then a to-be-determined opponent at the CPKC Stadium.