A player who didn’t play a minute in the U.S. Women’s National Team’s 4-0 soccer victory over South Korea on Saturday was the center of much of the discussion.
That player is Alex Morgan, a former star at Cal whose status for the Olympics is matter of much debate.
She is a member of the 23-player roster for these two games against 20th-ranked South Korea (the teams meet again on Tuesday), but will she be on the Americans’ 18-player roster for the Paris Olympics in July. The Olympic roster will be announced in late June.
Seventeen players saw game action for the USWNT on Saturday in Commerce City, Colorado, but Morgan did not get off the bench. So what did her absence in the first game the USWNT played under head coach Emma Hayes say about her status for the Olympics?
Three possible conclusions:
--- Morgan missed a month with an ankle injury this spring and was not healthy enough or fit enough to play.
--- Hayes was taking a look at alternative player combinations, already knowing what Morgan can do.
--- Morgan simply not fit into Hayes’ plans.
The fact that Mallory Swanson had two goals and an assist on Saturday while playing the No. 9 striker position usually occupied by Morgan probably did not enhance Morgan’s chances of making the Olympic roster.
Mal with the opener in Colorado! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸#USWNT x @VW pic.twitter.com/mvzqAPwtrM
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) June 1, 2024
But there is still time for Morgan to regain top form and impress Hayes, who has to appreciate Morgan’s experience in big events.
Morgan has scored 123 international goals, by far the most of any active American player, and she has been on the starting eleven in virtually every game the USWNT has played this year before Saturday’s match. But she will turn 35 years old on July 2, three weeks before the Americans’ first Olympic soccer game, and is coming off an ankle injury that sidelined her for a month. Her only game action since sustaining her injury on April 17 was her 28 minutes off the bench in the San Diego Wave’s May 23 game against Angel City in a National Women’s Soccer League match.
The three color commentators in Saturday’s pregame show – all former members of U.S. National teams -- predicted what the U.S. 18-player roster will be for the Olympics. Two of them – Julie Foudy and Shannon Boxx – predicted Morgan will be on the that roster, but just barely, while DeMarcus Beasley projects that Morgan will be left off.
Here’s what each said regarding Morgan’s chance on being on that roster.
FOUDY
Alex Morgan was a hard one for me. I almost knocked her off this roster, not because – she brings so much, we know that. She brings her veteran leadership. She brings goal-scoring. She’s been injured for a month. She just got back in the roster, and played 20-some minutes against Angel City the other day. She hasn’t been playing, and again I go back to that question we asked Emma [Hayes] so many games with so few rests, you can’t afford to bring too many players who aren’t totally in form and playing. And so that’s a big worry for me, with her age as well, can she get back, can she give enough. But I think you need that veteran presence. I go back to you need that veteran presence, and that’s why I go back to her.”
BOXX
I agree with you completely, and also agree that the injury does cause concern. But she is fit, she looks fit. I think she’s ready I would not count her out, and that’s why I would put her on my roster. But you’ve got to trust her ability that she can adjust to the role she is supposed to play. She’s done that.
BEASLEY
But you guys are forgetting one thing: She is a No. 9, right? So what is a No. 9 supposed to do? No, No. 9 is supposed to score. In my opinion, as the No. 9, they usually have the most emphasis on the team, and that’s why they get all the headlines, because they score the goals. And she hasn’t been able to do that. I mean, you look at 2023, 15 games, two goals. This year, I think she played eight games, two goals, one of those was a penalty. I know she’s had injuries. I understand, I get that part. But when you look at No. 9, and to bring something to the team, and to me, it’s goals. And she hasn’t done that in the last couple of years. And that’s why I left her off the roster. And another thing, as you said earlier Julie, if you’re a player you need to be able to play different positions. Alex Morgan can play No. 9, that’s it.
FOUDY: No, she can play out wide. I would actually prefer her out wide.
BEASLEY: Really?
FOUDY: I don’t like her in the nine. I would play her wide.
The U.S. plays one more game with its 23-player roster against South Korea on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see whether Morgan plays in that contest.
Then the comes the announcement of the 18-player roster in advance of the Americans’ two final tuneup matches, against Mexico on July 13 and against Costa Rica on July 16.
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