Carli Lloyd passes #10 jersey to Lindsey Horan

The United States Women’s National Team are in Minnesota ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against South Korea, but the main storyline will center around Carli Lloyd. The 39-year-old striker will play in her final match for the USWNT tomorrow night, putting on the #10 jersey one last time.

However, when she takes off that jersey, she’s already picked a recipient for who will have the #10 on their back moving forward. That player is Lindsey Horan. Horan, who celebrated achieving 100 caps in the match last Thursday night in Kansas City, received a congratulatory post from Lloyd in which she revealed that Horan would be the player who gets the #10 jersey after she retires tomorrow night.

U.S. Soccer made it official, documenting the official passing of the #10 during practice over the weekend.

The 27-year-old Horan was an interesting choice to receive the #10 from Carli, mostly because there were so many candidates. Some teams choose to give the #10 to an established veteran like Lindsey Horan, but there are many who would qualify for that on this juggernaut of a team, like Rose Lavelle, Christen Press, Lynn Williams, or even Crystal Dunn. Forget that she’s the best left back in the world, striker is probably Dunn’s best position and the #10 would be a great look with her name on it.

There’s also the option of giving it to one of the newcomers on the team, signifying their potential to be one of the next great legends to wear the red, white, and blue. Catarina Macario was the likely option there, but Sophia Smith also would have been a great selection.

In the end, Lindsey Horan and Carli Lloyd are really good friends, so Carli probably had her front of mind when given the opportunity to select who would acquire the #10 shirt after she left. The #10 comes with high expectations, both as a productive player on the field as well as a leader in the locker room and in the eyes of the fans. Lindsey will inherit those expectations once Lloyd steps off the field for the final time tomorrow night.

Hit the comments and discuss whether Lindsey Horan is the rightful heir apparent to the USWNT #10 jersey.