Tag: Alex Morgan

Rapinoe backs Hayes to take her place as USWNT media spokesperson

“Alex and I are very talented with the media …. that’s sort of a tough act to follow”

Megan Rapinoe has backed incoming U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes to pick up the slack from her and Alex Morgan as the team’s main representative with the media.

Rapinoe took on the mantle as the USWNT’s de facto spokesperson prior to her retirement last year. Along with other stars like Alex Morgan, Rapinoe championed the team’s favored social causes, served as an advocate for the team during its lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, and also acted as a shield for its many critics.

Speaking to Sam Mewis on her podcast on The Women’s Game, Rapinoe said that Hayes could help ease the burden on a new generation of USWNT stars who may not be as keen to be in the media spotlight as their predecessors.

“I think she’s really talented at [dealing with the media],” Rapinoe said of Hayes, who will take over as USWNT head coach in May following the conclusion of Chelsea’s season.

“I don’t think we often think of interactions — whether it’s players or coaches — as an actual talent with the media. I think Emma is very talented. She’s charismatic, she speaks very well. She’s cheeky. She’s going to have a sense of humor in there. It seems like she handles herself really well in England, which is traditionally a very tough media.”

“I think the team has also come off a period that had me and Alex. I think Alex and I are very talented with the media. I really don’t want to toot my own horn here, but that’s sort of a tough act to follow when the media is maybe looking for someone just like that, and that’s not how all players are. And I feel like this might be a time to let the coach take some of the heat for all of this.”

Rapinoe added that she welcomed the increased media scrutiny the USWNT has been dealing with in recent years, saying that has to come with the territory in a growing women’s sports landscape.

“I always say if we are going to say we want the sport to grow, you have to take the smoke,” Rapinoe said. “And I think that Emma’s going to be really good at doing that. And I always say the media is not the enemy. I feel like you can always weaponize media and always use them to your advantage and I think she’s going to be really good at that. And I think it might take a little bit of the pressure off the players, so they can just go do their thing.”

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Alex Morgan clapped back at other players when the USWNT played Colombia, and fans couldn’t get enough of it

A very spicy Alex Morgan has soccer fans ready for more shenanigans.

After a wild six-plus months stretch, Alex Morgan is back and she is feisty. Her dominant play and fiery aurora during the Concacaf W Gold Cup have the attention of soccer fans, and they are loving it.

If you’ve been paying attention, the USWNT didn’t look so hot in the 2023 World Cup, and amid their early exit, Alex Morgan didn’t look so great either. It’s probably a huge reason why she wasn’t on the initial roster for the Concacaf W Gold Cup. However, after Mia Fishel suffered a torn ACL, Alex Morgan was asked to step in.

Morgan’s presence was unexpected, but she was a delightful surprise on Sunday as the USWNT beat Colombia 3-0. Morgan was all over the field, helping her teammates and trash-talking Colombian defenders.

Fans loved a spicy Alex Morgan. Here’s what they had to say about her presence on the field:

Alex Morgan, Angel Reese and more congratulate Caitlin Clark on breaking NCAA women’s scoring record

Messages for the Iowa star also came from Sue Bird and Billie Jean King.

A whole lot of people were tuned into Peacock on Thursday night to witness a bit of history.

In case you haven’t heard, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark is now the all-time leading scorer in the history of Division I women’s college basketball. Clark entered the Hawkeyes’ games against Michigan needing just eight points to pass the mark set by Washington’s Kelsey Plum and wasted no time getting after it.

Clark sank a layup, swished a 3-pointer, and then hit another – the record-breaking shot – nearly from Iowa’s logo at midcourt in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. She scored Iowa’s first eight points, and a total of 23 in the first quarter.

And when Clark broke the record, messages of congratulations poured in from all over, including a few from women’s sports legends.

Morgan snaps career-long scoring drought in Wave win over Thorns

The USWNT striker had gone 15 games overall without a goal

Alex Morgan is once again among the goals.

The San Diego Wave striker broke a drought for club and country that spanned more than four months, scoring her side’s second in a 2-0 win over the Portland Thorns on Saturday night.

After Kyra Carusa had given the Wave a 20th-minute lead, Morgan got on the end of Christen Westphal’s long cross and saw her header barely trickle past the outstretched Bella Bixby in Portland’s goal.

Morgan’s 38th-minute header would be the final goal on the night, as the Wave earned a 2-0 away win that saw them become the first NWSL team this season to clinch a playoff berth.

Prior to Saturday night, the last time Morgan scored came all the way back on May 20, as San Diego beat the Houston Dash 3-0. The eight-game NWSL drought marked the longest streak of the striker’s NWSL career.

When factoring in U.S. women’s national team matches, Morgan’s header at Portland snapped a run of 15 games overall without a goal.

Morgan has gone nine games in a row without a goal for the USWNT, last scoring in February’s 2-1 SheBelieves Cup win over Brazil. Since then, she’s gone scoreless in two friendlies against Ireland, five World Cup games, and then two more friendlies against South Africa last month.

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USWNT star Morgan invests in new Woods-McIlroy golf league

Morgan and her husband Servando Carrasco have joined the ownership group of Los Angeles Golf Club

Alex Morgan has announced she and her husband Servando Carrasco have joined the ownership group of Los Angeles Golf Club (LAGC), a franchise in TGL, the new golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Billed as a “tech-infused golf league,” TGL will begin in January 2024 in conjunction with the PGA Tour, with matches to take place in prime time on Monday nights.

LAGC was confirmed as the league’s inaugural team, and features an ownership group that includes Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

That franchise has since been joined by teams in New York, Boston and Atlanta, each with high-profile owners (Steve Cohen, Fenway Sports Group and Arthur Blank, respectively). Two more franchises are set to be announced before the TGL begins.

Morgan has taken up golf in recent years, and even starred in a golf-themed Super Bowl commercial this year for Michelob Ultra.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxyB9zPLY2M/?img_index=1

TGL is aiming to attract younger audiences to golf, and will feature players hitting shots into a virtual screen before moving to “a data-rich, virtual course complete with a tech-infused, short-game complex.”

The matches will take place at a custom-built venue in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

“We all know what it’s like to be in a football stadium or a basketball arena where you can watch every play, every minute of action unfold right in front of you,” Woods said in a release when TGL launched. “It’s something that inherently isn’t possible in traditional golf — and an aspect of TGL that will set it apart and appeal to a new generation of fans.”

TGL will feature six teams with three-player rosters, with 12 pros already confirmed: Woods, McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick.

The inaugural season will feature a 15-match schedule followed by semifinals and a championship game.

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Sophia Smith hits out at NWSL over Alex Morgan fine

The NWSL fined Morgan on Wednesday for “comments detrimental to the league made on social media”

Sophia Smith has said the NWSL’s “priorities are all messed up” after the league issued a fine to Alex Morgan for her criticism of referees.

Morgan took to social media on Monday to protest a rough challenge that went uncalled during the San Diego Wave’s defeat to the Kansas City Current over the weekend.

The striker was taken out in the box by a tackle from defender Stine Ballisager, which was deemed to be clean after a VAR review.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Morgan said Ballisager’s tackle could have left her seriously injured.

“In what world is this not a penalty and red card, or even foul? Completely reckless and the leg going in for the tackle doesn’t even get a ball when I cut her?” Morgan said. “Just glad I saw her coming and didn’t plant on that leg or I’d 100% not be walking today.”

In response to Morgan’s criticism, the league issued Morgan a fine on Wednesday for “comments detrimental to the league made on social media.”

That fine didn’t sit well with Portland Thorns star Smith, who stuck up for her teammate on the U.S. women’s national team.

According to Smith, Morgan’s fine was “backwards” and showed the NWSL’s priorities were not where they should be.

The NWSL has long been criticized for failing to better protect players on the field, with a lack of adequate training and pay for referees among the issues hampering player safety.

Regardless, it seems like Smith could now be the next player to get fined.

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Wave star Morgan fumes over ‘completely reckless’ tackle in Current defeat

Morgan said if she had planted her leg, she wouldn’t be walking today

San Diego Wave star Alex Morgan was furious over a no-call in her side’s 2-1 defeat to the Kansas City Current on Saturday, saying she wouldn’t be walking if she’d planted her leg on a challenge from defender Stine Ballisager.

With the Current up in first-half stoppage time, Morgan took the ball in on goal and attempted a cutback. Ballisager, sensing her chance to win the ball, slid in hard and took the ball and Morgan simultaneously. After a VAR check, the officials deemed the Danish international’s challenge to be clean.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Morgan vehemently disagreed.

“In what world is this not a penalty and red card, or even foul? Completely reckless and the leg going in for the tackle doesn’t even get a ball when I cut her?” she wrote. “Just glad I saw her coming and didn’t plant on that leg or I’d 100% not be walking today.”

Morgan would stay in the game but limped off the pitch at full time, with Wave manager Casey Stoney saying after the game she had no update on the star forward’s status.

The match also represented the latest scoreless outing for Morgan, who has now failed to find the net since May. Speaking to reporters, Stoney backed the U.S. women’s national team forward to turn things around.

“You don’t go from being a world-class striker to being a poor player overnight,” Stoney said. “She’s a fantastic player. She’s still a world-class striker and the goals will come. Her contributions this season for us have been magnificent even when she’s not scoring goals, so keeping her in a good space is important.”

Morgan won the NWSL Golden Boot last season by scoring 15 goals. This season, the 34-year-old has scored five times in NWSL play.

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Alex Morgan brushes off retirement talk after USWNT’s World Cup elimination

Alex Morgan has no plans to call it quits right now.

The U.S. Women’s National Team’s disappointing Round of 16 exit from the 2023 World Cup in many ways marked the end of an era.

One of the team’s stars and leaders, Megan Rapinoe, already announced that this World Cup would be her last. Following the loss to Sweden on penalty kicks Sunday morning, Julie Ertz also announced her retirement.

Add in the loss of Carli Lloyd, who retired in 2021 following Team USA’s World Cup win in 2019, and many of the squad’s longtime fixtures won’t be around the next time it competes on the international stage.

Following the loss, all eyes turned to Alex Morgan. The 34-year-old striker has played for the USWNT since 2010 and captained it in its last two World Cup runs. But following a goalless performance in this year’s tournament, some questioned if she would follow in the footsteps of some of her veteran teammates.

She put that speculation to rest in an interview with ESPN following the loss.

“I’m not planning to hang up my boots anytime soon right now, ” Morgan said when asked if this World Cup would be her last. “So, just one day at a time now.”

Though it isn’t an outright commitment to playing in the 2027 World Cup — the host nation for which hasn’t been determined — it doesn’t sound like Morgan has any plans to slow down after the back-to-back defending champions bowed out in heartbreaking fashion.

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Morgan: I’m not planning to hang up my boots anytime soon

Morgan started all four games of the World Cup but failed to find the net

Alex Morgan insisted she is not considering retirement following the U.S. women’s national team’s shock early exit from the World Cup.

The USWNT crashed out at the last 16 against Sweden on penalties, failing to find the net in a scoreless 120 minutes before being eliminated by a deciding Sweden penalty that crossed the line by millimeters.

Morgan started all four games of the World Cup but failed to find the net, including a missed penalty against Vietnam.

At age 34 and having just completed her fourth World Cup, Morgan was asked by ESPN about the game and her future with the USWNT.

“It’s hard to lose on penalties but we didn’t put it away in the game and that’s what happens,” Morgan said. “We went to penalties where it’s a flip of a coin and that’s what happens. It’s just a tough one.”

Asked if she had played her final USWNT game, Morgan said: “I’m not planning to hang up my boots anytime soon right now. So just one day at a time.”

Morgan has scored 121 goals in 211 USWNT caps, good for fifth in program history. She was top scorer in the NWSL with the San Diego Wave last season, scoring 16 goals in 19 games. This season, she’s scored five goals in 11 games.

Though Morgan may be sticking around, some key USWNT players will not be: Julie Ertz said after the Sweden game that she had played her final match with the national team, while Megan Rapinoe announced before the World Cup that she’d retire following the 2023 NWSL season.

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USWNT player ratings: Defensive spine shines in gut-punch penalty kick defeat

The USWNT finally played like themselves, but soccer can be cruel

Soccer has always been a cruel sport, and today it came calling for the U.S. women’s national team.

After three underwhelming performances in the group stage, the USWNT finally looked like themselves against Sweden, bossing one of the best teams in this World Cup.

Unfortunately, they found goalkeeper Zećira Mušović having one of the games of her life, and when she wasn’t making a big save, the errant finishing that has plagued this team appeared again, and the result was a penalty kick elimination after a scoreless 120 minutes.

It was a heartbreaker for the U.S., who missed a shot in the shootout that would have seen them advance, and then had to watch Sweden’s winning kick require a VAR check to reveal that the ball had crossed the line by a nearly imperceptible margin.

Still, when it comes to ratings, this was by some margin the best performance from the USWNT at this World Cup as a team, and for many players as individuals.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.