Tag: Alex Morgan

‘This is an important issue to raise’ – USWNT boss Hayes explains Morgan absence vs. Korea

The forward was an unused substitute in Hayes’ first game as USWNT coach

U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes has said Alex Morgan was held out of Saturday’s win over South Korea due to an issue with her pelvic floor.

The USWNT earned a 4-0 victory in Hayes’ first match in charge, as Mallory Swanson and Tierna Davidson each scored a pair at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado.

Morgan was an unused substitute in the match, prompting Hayes to be asked in her post-game press conference if there was anything to be made of the veteran’s absence.

“No we shouldn’t make anything of it,” Hayes replied. “[Morgan] felt yesterday — this is an important issue to raise — stretching a little bit in her pelvic area. And us women who have had children, we have to focus on keeping our pelvic floor agile.

“I told her yesterday, I’m not going to take any risks today because I want her to play Tuesday. So I took the decision not to bring her into the game, so she’s nice and fresh for Tuesday.”

Morgan gave birth to her daughter Charlie in 2020. Hayes, meanwhile, gave birth to her son Harry in 2018.

The 34-year-old striker only just returned from an ankle injury that sidelined her for more than a month.

The USWNT will face South Korea on Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota in the second of two friendlies against the Asian side.

[lawrence-related id=73015,74413,74411]

USWNT star Alex Morgan returns from injury for San Diego Wave

Morgan returned to the pitch after missing a month with an ankle injury

Alex Morgan has made her return from injury, and just in the nick of time.

The U.S. women’s national team star had been sidelined for over a month with an ankle injury, but made her return Thursday night in a scoreless NWSL draw between the San Diego Wave and Angel City FC.

Morgan entered the match as a substitute, replacing Elyse Bennett in the 63rd minute. That ended just under five weeks on the touchline for Morgan, who departed an April 19 loss to the Orlando Pride following an awkward fall.

The news comes just days before the USWNT will assemble for the first time under coach Emma Hayes, who included Morgan in her 23-player squad for matches against South Korea early next month.

San Diego matches have been must-watch for USWNT observers lately, with numerous candidates for the Olympic roster all dealing with injuries.

Naomi Girma (hamstring) started for the Wave, putting in her first 90-minute shift since April 27’s home win over Bay FC.

Jaedyn Shaw (ankle) sat out last Friday’s loss, coincidentally also against Bay FC, but returned for manager Casey Stoney as the defending NWSL Shield holders battled to a scoreless draw in LA.

Those two, like Morgan, were on the latest USWNT squad. Abby Dahlkemper, a longtime U.S. center back looking to push her way back into the squad under new management, made her first start since April 19.

Morgan faces fight for USWNT Olympic spot

Morgan has been a USWNT fixture since bursting onto the scene in 2010. However, with the extraordinarily tough task of taking just 18 players to Paris, Hayes could possibly leave her out of a major tournament.

Catarina Macario’s return to fitness will give Hayes a very different sort of No. 9, and one she knows extremely well (having just finished coaching her at Chelsea). Sophia Smith, meanwhile, has arguably been the best striker in the NWSL this season, with Zambia star Barbra Banda her only serious competition.

On top of that, Hayes has brought up a need for versatility, which may play against Morgan. The 34-year-old has occasionally played on the left during her career, but has played almost entirely as a center forward in recent years.

With Smith able to play wide and Macario capable as a midfielder — not to mention Trinity Rodman being a possible central option, and Crystal Dunn being listed among the forwards after years of playing left back for the USWNT — the competition for a U.S. roster spot has never been stiffer for Morgan.

[lawrence-related id=68037,72765,72641]

USWNT defender Girma set to return from injury for San Diego Wave

A little good news, a little bad news for both the Wave and the USWNT

The San Diego Wave are set to welcome multiple U.S. women’s national team players back from injury, including star defender Naomi Girma.

Wave head coach Casey Stoney said that Girma would be available for Friday’s game against Bay FC, with the 23-year-old apparently having recovered from a thigh injury that sidelined her for San Diego’s last three matches.

“Naomi and Abby will be back,” Stoney told reporters during a Wednesday press conference, referring to Girma and another USWNT center back, Abby Dahlkemper. The latter has been out for roughly a month, also with a thigh issue.

Girma is considered a lock to start for the USWNT at the Olympics, but has now missed time over muscular injuries twice in the last six weeks. USWNT interim coach Twila Kilgore had to substitute Girma in April’s SheBelieves Cup win over Japan after the defender pulled up with an apparent hamstring strain.

Dahlkemper, meanwhile, faces a battle to make Emma Hayes’ final 18-player roster for this summer’s Olympics, with multiple players vying to partner Girma at center back. Candidates like Tierna Davidson and Alana Cook have both lost time to injuries of their own this year.

Hayes will begin her tenure as the U.S. manager in the coming weeks, with friendlies against South Korea on June 1 and June 4 representing the one and only set of matches before the Olympic roster is announced.

Shaw questionable, Morgan remains out

The Wave had further updates on USWNT regulars, but the news for Jaedyn Shaw and Alex Morgan was more mixed.

Shaw limped off in the final seconds of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with NJ/NY Gotham FC with a possible ankle injury, and per Stoney, her status is still up in the air.

Stoney said Shaw is “day-by-day at the minute, so we won’t know [until Friday’s game],” leaving open the possibility that the star attacker could make a quick return from an incident that initially looked more worrisome.

Morgan, meanwhile, remains out with an ankle injury suffered during a loss to the Orlando Pride on April 19.

“Alex is still out,” said Stoney. “She’s been running. She’s been doing technical work this week. She’ll be available when she’s available.”

For her own part, Morgan last week posted on social media that she hopes to return “very soon.”

San Diego has two NWSL matches before Hayes is expected to announce her squad for the games against South Korea: Friday’s clash at Bay FC, and a trip to face Angel City FC on May 23.

[lawrence-related id=66679,69800,68037]

USWNT striker Morgan hopes to return ‘very soon’ from ankle injury

The forward is set to miss her third straight game on Wednesday

Alex Morgan has issued an update on her ankle injury, saying that her recovery is going well and that she hopes to be back on the field “very soon.”

The San Diego Wave striker picked up the injury on April 19 during her team’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride. She has missed San Diego’s subsequent two matches and has already been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against Utah.

On the day of the match against the Royals, Morgan posted an update via her Instagram story that suggested she could be back in short order.

“Post-training ice for the ankle,” Morgan said. “Recovery going well and hoping to be back [very] soon.”

Time is of the essence for Morgan, who is vital to the Wave and is right on the U.S. women’s national team roster bubble for the Olympics this summer.

The knock could jeopardize Morgan’s availability for incoming coach Emma Hayes’ first USWNT camp, with the team facing two matches against South Korea on June 1 and June 4.

Following those matches, the USWNT will gather its Olympic roster together for send-off games against Mexico on July 13 and Costa Rica on July 16.

After hosting the Royals, the Wave are next in action on Saturday when they host defending NWSL champion NJ/NY Gotham FC.

[lawrence-related id=66636,66679,66309]

Alex Morgan to miss at least one San Diego Wave game due to ankle injury

Alex Morgan’s status is unclear, but Casey Stoney says she will miss at least one game with an ankle injury

Alex Morgan will miss at least one game with an ankle injury sustained in NWSL play.

San Diego Wave manager Casey Stoney said that the U.S. women’s national team striker will miss Saturday’s NWSL match against Bay FC.

Morgan picked up the injury last week during San Diego’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride.

According to Stoney, Morgan will be “week-to-week” going forward, an indicator that the injury may keep Morgan on the sidelines for a bit longer.

It’s a busy month for San Diego, who have five games in the next four weeks. The knock could also jeopardize Morgan’s availability for Emma Hayes’ first USWNT camp, with the team facing two matches against South Korea on June 1 and June 4.

Morgan faces something of a battle to make Hayes’ final 18-player roster for the upcoming Paris Olympics. The USWNT star has been a fixture with the team for over a decade, taking part in four World Cups and three Olympiads in her sterling career.

However, with Catarina Macario healthy again and Sophia Smith recovering her confidence after a post-World Cup dip, there is a very real chance that Morgan could end up watching the Paris games from home.

More to follow…

[lawrence-related id=62486,58116,54121]

USWNT striker Morgan limps off for San Diego with ankle injury

The Wave and USWNT will face a nervous wait on the striker’s injury

Alex Morgan limped out of the San Diego Wave’s match at the Orlando Pride on Friday after suffering an apparent ankle injury.

The forward was involved in a goal-mouth scramble late in the match, and appeared to roll her left ankle while fighting for the ball with Pride defender Emily Sams and goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse.

Morgan was down for several minutes and recieved treatment on the pitch before slowly limping off. The Wave were out of substitutions at the time of the injury, and were forced to play out the final minutes of the match with 10 players.

Orlando would win the game 1-0 at Inter&Co Stadium thanks to a 26th-minute goal from Summer Yates.

After the game, Wave head coach Casey Stoney said that she didn’t have much information other than the location of the injury.

“Just briefed on it, something to do with her ankle,” Stoney said in her press conference. “I’ve not heard anything more than that at the moment.”

The Wave and the U.S. women’s national team will now face a nervous wait to learn the extent of Morgan’s injury.

The 2024 Olympics kick off in three months, with Morgan recently playing her way back into a prominent role for the USWNT after being initially left off the roster for the W Gold Cup.

Morgan played in all six Gold Cup games, scoring two goals, before she started both SheBelieves Cup matches for the U.S. earlier this month.

[lawrence-related id=61730,61507,58116]

Morgan and Horan make statement on ‘extremely sad’ Albert controversy

The two USWNT leaders addressed the midfielder’s anti-LGBTQ+ social media activity

U.S. women’s national team pair Alex Morgan and Lindsey Horan made a brief statement to media on Wednesday addressing the ongoing controversy surrounding midfielder Korbin Albert.

Albert was forced to apologize last week after fans discovered that her TikTok account had either shared or reposted a host of anti-LGBTQ+ content. The 20-year-old also appeared to like an Instagram post celebrating Megan Rapinoe’s injury in last year’s NWSL championship game.

The midfielder was named to the SheBelieves Cup squad, with the USWNT set to play Japan on Saturday before facing either Brazil or Canada on Tuesday.

Albert’s presence has created a number of questions around how the USWNT would deal with the situation. In a brief statement, two of the team’s leaders said they were both saddened by her actions and that internal conversations among the team had taken place.

“Al and I just want to address the disappointing situation regarding Korbin that has unfolded over this past week,” Horan began.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to uphold the integrity of this national team through all of the generations and we are extremely, extremely sad that this standard was not upheld. Our fans and our supporters feel like this is a team that they can rally behind. And it’s so important that they feel and continue to feel undeniably heard and seen.”

Morgan continued: “We stand by maintaining a safe and respectful space, especially as allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community. And this platform has given us an opportunity to highlight causes that matter to us.

“It’s something that we never take for granted and we’ll keep using this platform to give attention to causes that are important to us. It’s also important to note we’ve had internal discussions around the situation, and that will stay within the team. But one thing also to know is that we have never shied away from hard conversations within this team.”

Neither Morgan nor Horan took questions about the situation. Mallory Swanson would later decline to answer a question, saying that the team would allow the statement from Morgan and Horan stand on its own.

[lawrence-related id=57866,56092,55981]

Morgan’s company takes indirect shot at Albert with Instagram post

The USWNT legend hasn’t commented directly on the controversy, but her company said plenty

Korbin Albert clearly has some work to do when it comes to winning over her teammates on the U.S. women’s national team.

The 20-year-old midfielder was forced to apologize on Thursday after fans discovered that her TikTok account had either shared or reposted a host of anti-LGBTQ+ content.

In a separate but perhaps equally damaging discovery, Albert was also found to have liked a post that celebrated Megan Rapinoe’s injury in her final career game.

Rapinoe slammed Albert in a post on Instagram, which was quickly reshared by a number of current and former USWNT players including Alana Cook, Sam Mewis, Kristie Mewis and Lynn Williams.

Alex Morgan hasn’t yet commented directly on the controversy, but appears to have done so in an indirect way through an Instagram post from Togethxr — the company she co-founded with other sports stars Sue Bird, Chloe Kim, and Simone Manuel.

Rather than attack Albert directly, the post highlighted “a few times USWNT players have made spaces safer, more inclusive, more whole, entirely better, and brought out the best in people.”

Some of the photos spotlighted the team’s fight for equal pay, its support for the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as its support for transgender rights.

It concluded: “That is the legacy of this team, past, present, and future.”

The USWNT will gather next week for the SheBelieves Cup. Both Morgan and Albert were named to the 23-player roster.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5GcXWcuh–/?hl=en&img_index=1

[lawrence-related id=55981,55760,55699]

Alex Morgan reps Caitlin Clark jersey before San Diego Wave opener

Game recognize game

Caitlin Clark will have a lot of eyes on her this month, including some big names from the world of women’s soccer.

The University of Iowa basketball sensation began her final NCAA tournament on Saturday, leading the top-seeded Hawkeyes to a 91-65 victory over Holy Cross in the first round.

After the game, San Diego Wave and U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan showed up for her side’s match wearing Clark’s No. 22 jersey.

Morgan posted a picture of herself on social media repping the all-time record holder for career points in Division I college basketball, with the striker doing Clark’s famous “you can’t see me” celebration.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C44OV4YRwbF/

Morgan has previously shown her admiration for the basketball star, congratulating her last month upon breaking the all-time scoring record.

The San Diego striker went on to play 82 minutes as the Wave began their regular-season campaign with a 2-1 defeat to the KC Current.

Morgan wasn’t the only player from the NWSL to wear Clark’s jersey on Saturday, with Chicago Red Stars pair Ally Schlegel and Sophie Jones doing the same.

[lawrence-related id=55089,55148,54121]

Alex Morgan chalks NWSL Challenge Cup-winning goal to ‘longest offseason I’ve had’

Morgan said focusing on her craft in an unusually long offseason helped her get the winner for the San Diego Wave

HARRISON, N.J. — Even at this point in a glittering career dating back over a decade, Alex Morgan is preaching the values of good old-fashioned practice.

Before a crowd of 14,000 at Red Bull Arena on Friday, Morgan’s late header gave the San Diego Wave a smash-and-grab 1-0 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC in the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup.

The U.S. women’s national team star was part of the side that won the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup just five days before the Challenge Cup, which is now a one-off curtain-raiser between the defending league champions (Gotham) and the NWSL Shield winner (San Diego) held a day before the NWSL regular season commences.

Between some early-season imprecision and the heavy legs of national team players on both sides (Morgan was one of nine USWNT players to suit up on the day), it was a game long on defensive organization and grit, and short on attacking threats at either end of the pitch.

San Diego ended up being credited with just seven shot attempts, but Morgan used a combination of strength and veteran savvy to shed her markers on an 88th minute corner, heading home the game’s only goal.

Speaking to reporters in a post-game mixed zone, Morgan insisted that one could draw a direct line between her game-winner and what she called “probably the longest offseason that I’ve had.”

“Just personally, I feel like I worked really hard this offseason,” said the 34-year-old striker. “Took the rest I needed, and then really built from that, worked on the things I wanted to — I needed to — work on, that I don’t get to throughout the season. So it feels good, being able to execute the things that I wanted to, and go out and help my team.”

Morgan was open about focusing on a lifting program designed for injury prevention after missing time in 2023. That was followed by position-specific work that came even as she was left off of the USWNT’s December roster and was only a late call-up for the W Gold Cup after Mia Fishel suffered a torn ACL.

“It was a lot of back-to-goal stuff, quick release, in and around the box,” said Morgan. “Things like a fake shot, or getting a couple inches in the box and and taking advantage of that.

“And then, a lot of crosses. I trained a lot with Kristen McNabb and some other [Wave] teammates in the offseason, they were whipping in a lot of crosses. And so, on the corner, the goal tonight, [it] was just a result of a lot of the heading that I was doing in the offseason.”

If you ask Morgan, all that work sharpened her in front of goal, but also kept her ready for the surprise U.S. recall.

“Going into the [W Gold Cup] last minute definitely put a little bit of a kink in things, but I felt really ready. I felt game-fit and ready to play,” explained Morgan.

“As much as it seemed like a whirlwind from the outside, I just felt like it was just something that I needed to kind of expect. You know, expect the unexpected. So, just having an opportunity to win two championships and being able to accomplish that in one week? I mean, it’s pretty wild.”

[lawrence-related id=51912,53558,49130]