Criticism and such

 The problem with speaking your mind is sometimes people wonder if you actually have one. 

This is especially true when they stick a microphone in front of you and pay you to say stuff, which is what FOX Sports is doing with Carli Lloyd these days. The retired USWNT star is in the booth over in New Zealand covering the Women's World Cup, and she's not saying nice things about her former team.

Basically, she's saying they've sucked eggs so far.

She's saying they look uninspired and under-prepared, and when they gasped and wheezed their way into the knockout round with a 0-0 draw against a "meh" Portugal side, she didn't like how they celebrated on the field. She figured they had nothing to celebrate about.

That there was more than a tinge of "Back in my day" grousing to that, making Lloyd sound like yet another sour coot who believes she played the game the RIGHT WAY (and these kids today don't), is undeniable. That she was largely on point is equally so.

To be sure, it's a young team and it's played that way so far, so maybe allowances should be made. And maybe it got hyped a bit too much by the American media, which tends to be provincial if not downright jingoistic when it comes to international events.

Still ...

Still, the two-time defending World Cup champs haven't shown us much so far. 

Prior to the 0-0 draw with Portugal, which finished third in the group, they beat a woefully underpowered Vietnamese team 3-0 in their opener, then drew 1-1 with a Netherlands side that wound up winning the group. It was only the second time the U.S. failed to win its group, and their five points was the fewest they had ever amassed.

Plus, four goals in three games -- just one of which came in their last two matches -- does not exactly inspire confidence. Teams that can't score rarely advance very far in the knockout round. And undefeated Sweden, a traditional nemesis, awaits the U.S. in the round of 16.

My guess is the World Cup ends for the Americans then and there. And if so, it will be earliest exit ever for a team that's been the world's dominant side for most of the last quarter century.

As for Lloyd ...

Well, she's always been a bit of a crank, and saying the USWNT is no longer committed to winning (as she did) was the cheapest of shots. But this is what FOX Sports is paying her large sums to do. Being a shill for her former team -- several of whose players were not long ago her teammates -- is not.

She's doing her job, in other words. Getting it right while she does it is just a bonus.