Alex Morgan a Starter in U.S. Victory; Is She on Olympic Roster?

Ex-Cal star Morgan gets her most significant playing time since her injury in Tuesday’s soccer win over South Korea. But will she be on USWNT’s 18-player Olympic roster?

Alex Morgan / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Former Cal star Alex Morgan was back in the starting lineup for the United States’ 3-0 victory over South Korea Tuesday night in rainy St. Paul, Minnesota, and her presence on the pitch intensified the debate on whether Morgan will be a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s roster for the Olympics this summer.

Morgan was a starter in place of Mallory Swanson, who was the starter at the No. 9 striker position in Saturday’s match against South Korea.  Swanson had two goals and an assist on Saturday, so presumably her place on the 18-player Olympic roster is assured.

Morgan was one of nine U.S. players in Tuesday’s starting eleven who did not start on Saturday, and Morgan was replaced about 17 minutes into the second half. It raises questions:

Was U.S. head coach Emma Hayes merely giving Morgan and the other new starters a fair chance to show their stuff before she makes the final cut for the Olympic squad in late June?  Or does the fact that Morgan was back in the starting eleven indicate Morgan has regained her health and fitness and is line for a spot on the Olympic squad? Or does the fact that she was replaced by Swanson early in the second half suggest anything, especially since the Americans' attack was clearly more efficient after Morgan left?

Will Hayes opt to keep 16-year-old Lily Yohannes on the Olympic roster instead of Morgan, who is 18 years older? Hayes has said she's trying to build the American team for the long term, and Yohannes made an impression on Tuesday by scoring the Americans' third goal.

These two games against 20th-ranked South Korea were the Americans’ first two matches played under Hayes, but they were also the last two matches before Hayes trims the current 23-player roster down to the 18-player roster the United States will take to the Olympics. And the general opinion is that Morgan is right on the borderline of making that Olympic roster.

Morgan was the player TV commentator DeMarcus Beasley said on the pregame show that he would be watching in Tuesday’s game

“She needs to put the ball in the back of the net,” he said. “Right now, she’s on the outside looking in [for a spot on the Olympic roster].”

Morgan did not score, but she did initiate the sequence that led to the Americans’ first-half goal, which was scored by Crystal Dunn.

Morgan did not play in Saturday’s 4-0 victory over South Korea, and she has not played much at all lately. She injured her ankle on April 17 and did not play in another soccer match until she played 28 minutes off the bench in the San Diego Wave’s 0-0 draw against Angel City in a National Women’s Soccer League match on May 23. 

That’s her only playing time since the injury before Tuesday, so there are questions whether she is 100% physically and completely fit after the layoff.

She was a member of the 23-player roster for these two games against 20th-ranked South Korea, but her place on the Americans’ 18-player roster for the Paris Olympics in July is uncertain. The Olympic roster will be announced before the U.S. team plays its two final tuneup matches, against Mexico on July 13 and against Costa Rica on July 16.

Morgan has scored 123 international goals, the most by an active American player, and she had been a starter in virtually every game the USWNT has played this year before Saturday. But she will turn 35 years old on July 2, three weeks before the Americans’ first Olympic soccer game. And she has not played much recently.

She has scored two goals for the USWNT this year, and one of those was a penalty.

Hayes may have already made up her mind regarding Morgan’s Olympic status, but the rest of us must wait for the announcement of the U.S. Olympic roster in a few weeks.

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