Alex Morgan Does Not Start in Loss in Landon Donovan’s NWSL Debut

Former Cal star Morgan plays the second half but fails to score for San Diego against Angel City

Alex Morgan / Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports

Former Cal star Alex Morgan was left out of the San Diego Wave’s starting lineup on Saturday, and although she played the second half of the San Diego Wave’s 2-1 loss to Angel City FC, Morgan again failed to score a goal.

You don’t see Morgan on the bench often, and she had been in the Wave’s starting 11 throughout the 2024 season when she was healthy.

Morgan did start the second half for the Wave in its first National Women’s Soccer League game since the Olympics break, but she was unable to score her first NWSL goal of the season.

She has not scored a goal in any of the 15 games she has played for the Wave this year in all competitions, and that may be the reason she was not in the starting 11 in Saturday’s game in San Diego.

Starting in the San Diego striker position typically occupied by Morgan was Mya Jones, who turned 23 years old earlier this month.

Morgan replaced Jones to start the second half, and after the Wave’s Abby Dahlkemper scored in stoppage time to close the deficit to 2-1, Morgan had an opportunity on a loose ball right in front of the Angel City goalkeeper but was unable to get off a shot in the closing seconds of the game.

It’s been a challenging year for Morgan.

The 35-year-old Morgan had scored 23 goals for the Wave in the previous two season, and had been the runner for the NWSL MVP award in 2022 when she led the league with 15 goals.

She was named to the league’s Best IX in both 2022 and 2023, and she has scored 123 international goals.

However, Saturday was another disappointment for Morgan.

It was not a good result for Donovan, who became the San Diego’s  interim head coach earlier this month.  He won his first game as San Diego’s head coach when the Wave beat San Fe FC in Panama City in a women’s Concacaf Champions Cup group stage game on Tuesday.

Morgan was in the starting lineup for that game, but did not score a goal, and was held out until the second half on Saturday.

Morgan has not scored a goal at any level this year since her February 23 goal for the U.S. National Team in a 4-0 victory over Argentina in a Concacaf Gold Cup group-stage game.

She was a late injury replacement for the U.S. Gold Cup squad, but then was a starter in nearly every subsequent game for the USWNT.   An April injury sidelined her for a month, but it came as a surprise to many that she was not named to the United States Olympic squad, which went on to win the gold medal.

Now, after sitting out Saturday’s NWSL game, you have to wonder what the future has in store for Morgan.

Jaedyn Shaw and Naomi Girma returned to the San Diego roster after being part of the U.S. gold-medal Olympic team, although neither played on Saturday.

Alyssa Thompson scored both goals for Angels City, both coming in the first half

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