Alex Morgan Announces Her Retirement and That She's Pregnant

Former Cal star Morgan scored 123 international goals but was left off the Olympic squad during a difficult 2024 season. Her final game will be Sunday

Alex Morgan / Julia Kapros-Imagn Images

After what has been a disappointing 2024, former Cal and international soccer star Alex Morgan announced her retirement on Thursday.

She also said that she is pregnant with her second child and will play her final game as a member of the San Diego Wave on Sunday.

Morgan announced her retirement with a social media video:

Thank you🫶 pic.twitter.com/8BkofVOh3s

— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) September 5, 2024

"I have so much clarity about this decision, and I am so happy to be able to finally tell you," Morgan said in the video. "It has been a long time coming, and this decision wasn't easy, but at the beginning of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer."

Morgan, 35, is a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist. She ranks fifth in U.S. Women’s National Team history with 123 international goals scored.

However, 2024 has been difficult for Morgan.  She was initially left of the U.S. squad for the Concacaf Gold Cup in February but was added to the roster after another player suffered an injury the day before the tournament began.  Morgan was a starter in most of the U.S. games after that, but she missed a month of action after suffering a severe ankle sprain on April 19.

She has seen a noticeable decline in her goal-scoring. She did not score a goal for the U.S. team after scoring in the second game of the Concacaf Gold Cup in February.

Morgan has not scored a single goal for the San Diego Wave this season, primarily in National Women’s Soccer League games but also in Wave games outside of league play.

In 2022 she led the NWSL in goals with 15, and last year she had seven goals.

However, the biggest disappointment came when new USWNT coach Emma Hayes left Morgan off the Americans’ 18-player roster for the Olympics.  Morgan was not even named one of the four alternates, and when one alternate was moved up to the active roster after an injury to a roster play, Morgan was not added the replace the alternate.

Morgan made her debut for the USWNT in 2010. In that same year she scored a goal in a FIFA World Cup playoff contest that enabled the U.S. to  qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

She soon became a starter on the U.S. squad and remained one of its key players for years.

Morgan was a star during her time at Cal. As a senior in 2010, she played in only 12 games for the Bears because she was called up to play for the U.S. National Team during the season. Nonetheless she still led the Bears in goals with 14 and in points with 30. She led the nation in scoring for most of that season.

Morgan left Cal as the school's third all-time scorer with 45 career goals and is third in Cal history in points with 107. If she had not been added to the USWNT roster to help the U.S. qualify for the 2011 World Cup, she probably would have been Cal's career leader in both categories.

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