For the primary time in 16 years, striker Alex Morgan won’t be a part of the US women's national soccer team's squad for a serious tournament.
On Wednesday, coach Emma Hayes dropped Morgan from the 18-man squad for this summer's Olympic Games in Paris. Without her, the US national team might be with no former gold medalist. The team's last victory got here in London in 2012.
“It was obviously a difficult decision, especially given Alex's past and success with this team,” Hayes said, “but I felt like I wanted to go in a different direction and selected other players.”
Morgan's absence will be viewed in a lot of ways. It's the top of an era for the USWNT. Some will see it as an overdue move to put younger players alongside experienced players. Others will argue that Hayes made a straightforward soccer decision. Most importantly, Wednesday's move reminded us that no spot on a U.S. roster is guaranteed.
“Today I am disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage,” Morgan posted on social media after the announcement. “This tournament will always be close to my heart and I am incredibly proud every time I wear the crest.”
Today I’m dissatisfied that I didn’t have the chance to represent our country on the Olympic Games. This tournament will at all times be near my heart and I’m incredibly proud each time I wear the crest.
In lower than a month, I look ahead to supporting this team… pic.twitter.com/NAXmQnNN8B
– Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) 26 June 2024
Hayes declined to elaborate on her reasons for leaving Morgan out of the squad or provide an inventory of 4 replacements, including Gotham FC striker Lynn Williams, but as a substitute emphasized “what a great player and person Alex Morgan was” while working along with her briefly at training camp this month for 2 friendlies against South Korea.
“I have seen first-hand not only their qualities but also their professionalism. Their record speaks for itself,” said Hayes. At the identical time, she recognized the restrictions of the 18-man squad, which only has room for 16 field players.
Morgan has leadership qualities, having captained the Americans on the most important stage of the World Cup, and her experience surpasses every other player on the squad when it comes to appearances and goals, so what kept her from making the Olympic team?
Since the friendlies in South Korea, it was clear that the very best starting lineup for forwards included Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, but Morgan was still fighting for a spot within the squad. Her performance at club level, nevertheless, could have hurt her fight for a spot.
“I come from a club background and I've learned that the best development happens at the club level,” Hayes said during her first media appearance last month in New York City, essentially addressing players directly through the media. “So go back to your clubs, play, compete, get healthy and put yourselves in the best position possible.”
Since taking office, Hayes has consistently stressed that performance and form play a job in her assessment, especially at club level.
“There are players in the squad who are performing well and the decision to take those players was carefully considered, but I think it's a balanced squad,” Hayes said. “I've taken into account all the factors that we're going to need during the Olympics and (this squad) is one that I'm really happy with.”
After a couple of years of limited club involvement – she played just 10 league games for Orlando Pride and Tottenham from 2019-2021, including a break while she was pregnant with daughter Charlie – Morgan enjoyed a resurrection season for the newly formed San Diego Wave in 2022. She won the Golden Boot by leading the NWSL with 15 goals, including 11 from play. It was Morgan at her best – organising shots along with her left foot and finding loads of space within the six-yard box to convert dangerous probabilities.
Morgan, who turns 35 on Tuesday, also had to take a seat out for a while attributable to a persistent ankle injury.
Her form was not quite as strong in the beginning of 2023, but her place in Vlatko Andonovski's World Cup squad was secure. She was a staple in his lineup within the lead-up to the tournament and the hope was that she could do some thankless work as a lineman, even when her goal-scoring instincts weren’t quite at their best.
However, for the reason that USWNT was eliminated within the round of 16 on the World Cup, Morgan has struggled to attain goals for her club and country. San Diego has been off form this season and fired head coach Casey Stoney this week. However, a player with Morgan's pedigree is predicted to attain goals even when the going gets tough. Instead, in 2024, midway through the season, she has yet to attain a goal.
Given the Wave's struggles to enhance possession this yr, Morgan has needed to drop deeper than usual to get to the ball. That's evident in how rather more often she has to direct her passes forward – 16.2% of her passes are not less than 5 yards toward goal, a rate more more likely to be seen in a midfielder than a forward and significantly higher than her 12.1% in 2022. She has seemed less inclined to tackle an opponent along with her dribbling, having only three dribbles in 542 minutes this season after completing 35 dribbles in 1,630 minutes last yr.
Even more worrying is the 0 within the goals scored column this season, despite playing almost 600 minutes.
Morgan's lack of versatility can also have played a job in Hayes' decision. Morgan has long been a standout striker, scoring 123 goals because the USWNT's fifth-leading goalscorer of all time. But with that specialization comes a scarcity of experience in other positions, like a number of the players chosen for the tournament.
Partly hampered by her club's stagnant possession strategy, Morgan has didn’t enjoy a similarly lavish output within the box. She has yet to take a single shot contained in the six-yard box within the 2024 season, resulting in a pointy drop in her expected goals per shot, and only six of her 20 shot attempts this season have been made along with her stronger left foot.
Wave teammate Jaedyn Shaw was in a position to contribute barely enough to remain in Hayes' Olympic plans despite the team's poor form. Unfortunately, Morgan was unable to supply the identical strong USWNT performance that bolstered Shaw's case for inclusion on the list. Hayes called her goal contributions for the national team “significant” on Wednesday.
Morgan's best arguments for one more Olympic appearance were more intangibles, whether it was her presence as a veteran leader alongside captain Lindsey Horan or the sort of presence she could provide within the late stages of a knockout match given her track record at major tournaments. With an 18-man roster, it's clear Hayes couldn't justify those intangibles over more basic roster needs.
“There is no denying that this program has been tremendously successful in the past, but the reality is that it will take a lot of work before we get back to that level of excellence,” Hayes said.
Youth is a component of that process. Hayes named the youngest Olympic squad for the USWNT since 2008, when the team won gold in Beijing. The current squad has a mean age of 26.8, 4 years younger than the team that went to Tokyo in 2021 and settled for a bronze medal. Even more stark, nevertheless, is the difference within the variety of appearances in comparison with the last Olympics. The average appearances per player in 2021 was 111; for this team, the typical is just 58.
“When you look at the team's salary cap, you can see that there has been a lack of development in terms of putting less experienced players in positions where they can develop that experience,” Hayes said. “I think it's important that we do that to take the next step. So I'm not looking back.”
Morgan's 224 appearances for the United States far exceed those of every other player on the Olympic squad. (Photo by Brad Smith, Getty Images for USSF)
Hayes identified that Shaw's addition to the squad reinforces that concept, putting a give attention to younger players and their development at major tournaments to achieve experience that may profit the USWNT each immediately and long-term. Hayes sidestepped questions on where the team might find yourself or what its goals are for the Olympics, stressing that her mission is to get the team as near its best level and best version as possible.
Morgan could have provided a short-term boost, despite all of the history and legacy she’s going to leave behind in her absence. But that might not be the case. It's not possible to predict the contribution anybody player might make over the course of a serious tournament. Ultimately, Hayes is concentrated on something larger, constructing on the changes already made following the early exit from the World Championship last summer.
“For us, this is an opportunity to show that these findings will take us much further than last time,” she said. “But there are no guarantees in life.”
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