Carli Lloyd says the time shes taken to recover from a minor knee injury has been a blessing in disguise because it helped her to slow down and reflect after a wild year.Honestly, its been the best 10 weeks I think Ive had in a long time. Ive been able to rest my mind, rest my body, rejuvenate myself. Im more rejuvenated than I can even remember, she said. Ive gotten to spend time with my fiance and my friends and be in my house. Its honestly been one of the best things that could have happened.Lloyd scored a hat trick in less than 16 minutes in the Womens World Cup title game victory over Japan nearly a year ago. The 5-2 win gave the U.S. national team its third overall title in the games most prestigious tournament, and made Lloyd a household name.In the aftermath, she not only played in the teams victory tour, but she was showered with sponsorship deals and appearance requests. She was named the FIFA Womens Player of the Year, the sports highest honor.And to top it off, shes also wrote a memoir, When Nobody Was Watching due to come out in September.This time last year, no one could have predicted this, she said. Its still going.But much of the chaos came to a screeching halt in April, when she sprained her right knee in a game with her National Womens Soccer League team, the Houston Dash. The Grade 1 MCL sprain was expected to take three to six weeks to heal.Lloyd did not rush her return because of whats looming this August: the Olympics in Brazil. She needs to be fully healed as the United States goes for its fourth straight gold medal.The New Jersey native has been key to the last two Olympic efforts. She scored the winning goal in the gold-medal match in Beijing and London.And, truth be told, Lloyd needed the break. The injury, while unfortunate, came at a good time, far enough out from the Olympics that she could still be back in time.Honestly, if I had kept going, at that pace -- when I do things I do them 100 percent, whether its on the field or a commercial shoot, appearance, anything. I was completely fried, she told The Associated Press in a phone interview.Her coach and mentor James Galanis said he also sensed she was running on empty. He was going to suggest she take time off, but she had obligations with the Dash and the national team, as well as other appearances.Here was a completely drained out girl, and yeah, I was concerned, said Galanis, director of Universal Soccer Academy in New Jersey. When she got injured, my immediate thinking was, `I hope its not serious. Then it was, `If its not serious thats great, shes going to have to take a break whether she likes it or not.Lloyd is rejoining the national team on Friday for training in advance of the U.S. teams match on July 9 against South Africa at Chicagos Soldier Field. The team will also play on July 22 against Costa Rica in Kansas City, Kansas, before leaving for Brazil.Im pretty much 100 percent. I would say about 95 percent, she said. Im basically doing everything: cutting, springing, running, shooting. Ive been jumping in with some of James teams and playing with the kids. So, nearly there. I should be good to go.Thats where Galanis veers a bit from Lloyd. He thinks she looks stronger than she has for a long time.I think shes coming back a lot more mature, a lot more wiser. And her condition -- I havent seen her as explosive as she is right now. She looks so powerful, he said. And its really because of this forced break that she had, it brought her back. Randy White Womens Jersey . 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Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers gave in to the NFLs ultimatum that they cooperate with the leagues investigation into their alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs for one reason:We werent willing to fall on the knife for something we didnt do, Matthews told reporters in Kansas City following the Green Bay Packers preseason game Thursday night against the Chiefs, a 17-7 loss.Both maintained their innocence from the start when they were linked to PEDs by an Al-Jazeera America report in December, but they (along with Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison) werent cleared until Wednesday?-- a week after they finally agreed to sit down with league investigators.They agreed to talk after the NFL said the players could face a suspension if they didnt cooperate by Aug. 25.Peppers said he wouldve liked the situation to have been resolved sooner.I feel like we all couldve handled the situation a little differently to get better results, [but] Im pleased with how it turned out, Peppers said. Thats pretty much it.Matthews said he was never worried about being suspended until tthe league gave them a deadline to talk, but he is still bothered that he had to answer to what he called ridiculous allegations.ddddddddddddWhos to say that somebody can just come out and say anything and next thing you know youre sitting down for something thats absolutely ridiculous, as it was in this case, Matthews said. Like I said, I maintained my innocence. I really had nothing to worry about until those ultimatums were put in place, and at that point, we sat down for the interviews and were ultimately cleared.When asked whether he made the decision to be interviewed by the league on his own or if the NFL Players Association told him to do it, Peppers said: It was a process.There was a lot of back-and-forth for months, Peppers said. We communicated with the PA back and forth about how to best handle it, so I think last week we came to a decision that we needed to just go ahead and do it and hopefully get it resolved, and thats what happened. ' ' '