Lloyd question mark for U.S.

Sometime between Carli Lloyd's gold-medal-winning goal for the U.S. women's team in the 2008 Olympics and the start of the first Women's Professional Soccer season, something changed.

Lloyd took some time off, and admittedly, she was not fit when she began play for the Chicago Red Stars in 2009. In 16 games, she collected two goals and one assist. This season, the Delran native joined Sky Blue FC in Piscataway, N.J., but was limited to five matches because of a broken ankle.

Her statistics for 2010: no goals or assists.

In two years, Lloyd seemingly had gone from Olympic hero - drilling the winning goal in overtime in Beijing - to question mark.

"Everything's a learning experience," she said. "Sometimes you kind of have to go a couple steps backwards to pick yourself up and realize what it's going to take."

On Saturday, in her first significant action since she was injured in April, Lloyd played 60 minutes in the U.S. team's 2-1 win against China in Kennesaw, Ga.

The Americans will host China again in their final exhibition match Wednesday at PPL Park in Chester. Then the United States will head to Mexico on Oct. 28 for the CONCACAF women's World Cup qualifying tournament.

How much the 28-year-old midfielder plays Wednesday depends on U.S. coach Pia Sundhage, who also coached Lloyd on the 2008 team. Sundhage plans to closely monitor her minutes.

"When she's healthy and when she's 100 percent, she could play some good soccer at the highest level," Sundhage said.

"You have to respect the level. It takes time to get in the rhythm and decision-making. But I think she did OK the last game. She played more than 45 minutes, so I'm really looking forward to seeing her out there again and seeing how much she could perform."

After her first year in WPS, Lloyd said she realized she had to be fit for the season, "because if I'm not fit, I'm not performing the way that I can - and want to perform."

This time, her approach is smarter, she said Monday as the team took part in the first of two practice sessions before Wednesday's match. Lloyd said she is "keeping it simple and not overdoing" anything. The extended playing time on Saturday has boosted her confidence.

"I'm a big believer in 'everything happens for a reason,' " she said. "I think I'm bouncing back pretty well, and the timing is pretty good."