US star Carli Lloyd thrilled to meet Messi and Mascherano in Houston

The scorer of a hat trick in the Women's World Cup Final meets two of her biggest idols during Argentina's visit to Houston

She’s one of the biggest stars in the women’s game. Carli Lloyd was part of the US team that won the World Cup in Canada earlier this year, where she became the first person to score a hat-trick in the final, a 5-2 defeat of Japan, and collected the Golden Ball trophy as the best player in the tournament and the Silver Boot as the second top scorer.

The 33-year-old midfielder from New Jersey, who plays for the Houston Dash in the NWSL, was thrilled to bits this week when Argentina were in town to play Bolivia in a friendly. “Welcome to Houston!” she tweeted when the South Americans arrived, and then got the chance to see her idols in the flesh as they trained on the ground of MLS side Houston Dynamo.

On a memorable day, Lloyd got to meet fellow Olympic gold medallist Leo Messi, who was pictured signing a shirt for her. “Dream come true to meet the greatest player to ever play the game!” she tweeted afterwards. “Thank you Argentina and Messi.”

She also posted a picture of herself with another member of the FC Barcelona treble winning team. And it’s clearly not just his footballing ability that she appreciates. “Big fan of Javier Mascherano” she said on her Twitter account. “He's a stud.”

She was also at the Compass Stadium to watch the game. Unfortunately for her, Mascherano was left on the bench, but Messi came on as a substitute to provide two of the goals in an impressive 7-0 win for Tata Martino’s side.

Source: http://ift.tt/1PS4vET