Alex Morgan and the U.S. Women’s National Team have been synonymous with each other for the past 14 years. But on Wednesday came news of the sudden, surprising end to the forward’s run at major tournaments with a team whose standards he helped maintain and whose status he largely elevated.
Morgan was omitted from USWNT head coach Emma Hayes’ 18-player Olympic roster and is not one of four alternates who will travel to France. Instead, she will watch from a distance as the USWNT plays in a major tournament for the first time since earning her inaugural cap in March 2010. The USWNT last played a major tournament without Morgan at the 2008 Olympics.
It’s not the ending she might have imagined — and perhaps she still hopes it’s not quite the end — but Wednesday’s news was a harsh reminder that some athletes deserve a chance to walk away on their own terms.
“Today, I am disappointed to not have the opportunity to represent my country on the Olympic stage,” Morgan said in a statement on his social media account. “This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I feel very proud whenever I reach the summit.”
What does Morgan’s omission mean for the USWNT at the Olympics and beyond?
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Hayes repeatedly emphasized how difficult it is to select only 16 outfield players for the Olympic roster. She praised Morgan as both a person and a player during their limited time together at the latest USWNT camp.
Ultimately, though, Morgan is a rare breed as a number 9 – a pure striker who should be played centrally. For more than a decade, the rest has filled in around her, and her skill set combined with the USWNT’s depth chart has justified it.
However, Morgan turns 35 next week, and the pool of USWNT players has grown younger in recent years, as most of Morgan’s teammates from the previous generation have retired or dropped out of the international game. This USWNT Olympic roster is an average of four years younger than the previous Olympics three years ago. The group is also loaded with versatility – from the electric Sophia Smith to Morgan’s San Diego Wave teammate, 19-year-old Jaidyn Shaw, who can play anywhere in the forward four roles.
Versatility is where Hayes ultimately made his choice. The fluidity and accuracy of the front three of Smith, Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman were on full display in the team’s last match, when the trio came off the bench and tortured South Korea’s tired defence: five minutes later they were all replaced by Morgan. Entered with Smith. Up top, Rodman dribbled and gave Swanson a subtle backheel flick past Smith, who completed a goal.
“Having a roster that can adapt is essential,” Hayes told reporters Wednesday. “We have a tight transition between games, so definitely having players on the roster that can play more than one position makes sense with the depth of the team.
“But I also think there are players on the roster in the forward areas that are performing well and the decision to take those players was one we certainly deliberated on. But I think it There is a balanced roster. I have considered all the factors that we will need throughout the Olympics and (the roster is) one that I am really happy with.”
Morgan has a more diverse skill set than he is often given credit for. She came into sharp focus in 2010 as a 20-year-old girl to punish the defendants. Her play earned her the nickname “Baby Horse”, which she was happy to carry forward and her style fit in perfectly with the USWNT, which played straight. The perception – or stigma, sometimes – that she is just a fast forward woman who can also run backward has followed her ever since.
Hayes has instead chosen to lean towards a more dynamic frontman group that is less bound to traditional roles. Smith will operate as a No. 9 who can run in behind and hold serve, but he will also flow wide to allow Swanson and Rodman to cut inside and get the ball closer to the net. Shaw can also do this.
All of those players are more creative off the dribble than Morgan, preferring to keep the ball at his feet and combine with teammates. Hayes’ priorities reveal that she envisions a USWNT that will consider unlocking teams on the dribble more often than before – a criticism she aired publicly about the American style of play before taking the job. Did.
Morgan, however, remains one of the most decorated strikers to wear a US shirt – her 224 caps and 123 goals rank ninth and fifth respectively in USWNT history. She was, and still is, the second player to score 20 goals and 20 assists in a year, along with Mia Hamm. For years, his position in the team was without question.
He has scored some of the most important goals in the team’s history. His overtime goal to defeat Canada at the end of a 4–3 thriller in the 2012 Olympic semi-finals is one of the most iconic in American history. His goal against England in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals is another standout.
Her play at that 2019 tournament is more widely remembered for her teasing celebration that caused a stir in England, but it was the dirty work she did beyond scoring that the USWNT needed Was. It was that back-to-goal, take-a-beating-Alex Morgan for the team that defined the development of his game. It was part of how the Americans won over Spain in the round of 16 in 2019.
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Kassoff: Morgan’s absence from Olympics a ‘big decision’ on Hayes’ part
Jeff Kassoff reacts to the news that Alex Morgan will not be part of the USWNT’s Olympic roster in Paris.
However, recently, her position in the USWNT has been challenged more often, but each time she responded.
Former USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski attempted to rebuild the team in 2022 and envisioned Catarina Macario as the new number 9. That plan, which had Morgan left off the roster at the beginning of the year, was cut short when Macario tore his ACL.
Morgan returned to the team for the 2022 World Cup/Olympics qualifying event, where she won the Golden Ball. He also responded with the best club season of his career in 2022, scoring 15 goals and winning the Golden Boot. Any notion of a national team without him was quickly forgotten.
Morgan retained her starting role for the 2023 World Cup despite doubts about her play, and while her performance was forgettable – she did not score in that tournament – the USWNT was poor throughout, and the team’s issues were no worse than any one. Were deeper than the player. ,
Hayes’ arrival as head coach was always going to be a significant change. Hayes is a big man who doesn’t shy away from tough decisions, and his record backs it up. Morgan was left out of the team’s preliminary CONCACAF W Gold Cup roster in February, when incoming Hayes was left out of the squad halfway through even after he finished coaching Chelsea. But Morgan joined the team following an injury to Mia Fishel and quickly regained the starting number 9 role in that tournament.
Maybe that’s why Wednesday felt so shocking. Morgan’s place on this team was clearly in question over the past two years, and every time, she answered the call with reminders of how good she is.
His form with the San Diego Wave this season – zero goals in eight games – came at the wrong time for this Olympic roster selection. It is also more indicative of a wider issue with the Wave, who went on a seven-game winless streak since being Shield winners last year. Wave coach Casey Stoney was fired earlier this week.
Sophia Smith always looked like the No. 9 of the future for the USWNT, and her recent Golden Boot award, MVP trophy, and NWSL championship made a compelling case that she should be the No. 9 immediately. Now, that is. Hayes will likely play Swanson and Rodman with Smith on the front line, relying on their chemistry to confuse opposing defenses. Shaw, Macario and Crystal Dunn – listed as forwards – add depth at various positions.
Morgan has six career Olympic goals, and no other player to make the Olympic roster has more than one.
She was the last member of her generation with the USWNT, the group that captured the nation’s attention by winning consecutive World Cups and fighting for equal pay. Megan Rapinoe’s retirement last year and former captain Becky Sauerbrunn’s quiet exit after missing the 2023 World Cup due to injury has led to a noticeable change from experienced, vocal leaders on the USWNT. Hayes says he likes developing leaders – and he’ll need them in France.
For many years, whenever Morgan was dropped from the team he was forced to make his way back into the team, now it appears to be a tough task as the next World Cup is three years away. Instead, it looks like a tough end to one of the most celebrated careers in USWNT history. For this reason, despite questions surrounding the versatility of this roster, this decision can only be seen as a surprise.
But this is also the unfortunate reality of this profession, even for the veterans within it. Not making this Olympic team won’t take away from her two World Cup titles and Olympic gold medal, but it doesn’t make the apparent end of Morgan’s time with the USWNT any less harsh.
As Rapinoe said last year, moments after her final match ended when she tore her Achilles early in her team’s NWSL Championship loss: “You don’t always get perfect endings.”
