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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡
An iconic scorer on championship American women’s teams, Alex Morgan, announced her retirement from professional football, to begin after Saturday’s NWSL match in San Diego between her San Diego Wave squad and North Carolina.
Now 35, Morgan has been a star with the U.S. National Team since 2010, making 224 appearances and will retire as the fifth-best scorer in American history with 123 goals. She also had 53 career assists for a 176 total, also fifth all-time in U.S. history.
U.S. Soccer noted how closely tied the success of the women’s National Team and Morgan have been:
● “The USA’s record in matches in which Morgan played stands at 177W-15L-32D.
● “She scored in 86 of her 224 international appearances (good for ninth all-time in U.S. history), while making 158 starts, and she captained the USA 23 times during that span.
● “In the 86 matches in which Morgan scored the USWNT never lost, going 76W-0L-10D.”
Morgan will be remembered for her roles on two FIFA Women’s World Cup championship teams in 2015 and 2019 and was on the U.S. silver-medal team in 2011. She won an Olympic gold in 2012 and a bronze at Tokyo 2020.
A dangerous scorer in and around the box, Morgan had the knack of being in the right place at the right time, and creating situations in which defenders could not stop her, or a teammate that Morgan would pass to.
At the FIFA Women’s World Cup, she played in 22 matches and scored nine goals: two in 2011, one in 2015 and six in 2019. She scored five times in the 13-0 rout of Thailand in the 2019 opener, and then added one more goal during the tournament.
She scored six goals in 16 Olympic appearances.
Morgan was a consistent presence on the FIFA FIFPRO World XI with six selections. She was twice the runner-up for the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year and was named the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018.
She said in a statement:
“I grew up on this team, it was so much more than soccer.
“It was the friendships and the unwavering respect and support among each other, the relentless push for global investment in women’s sports, and the pivotal moments of success both on and off the field. I am so incredibly honored to have borrowed the crest for more than 15 years.
“I learned so much about myself in that time and so much of that is a credit to my teammates and our fans. I feel immense pride in where this team is headed, and I will forever be a fan of the USWNT. My desire for success may have always driven me, but what I got in return was more than I could have ever asked and hoped for.”
In club play, Morgan was a part of 10 different clubs, in three U.S. leagues as well as English and French leagues, with 183 regular-season appearances and scoring 81 goals.
Morgan was an All-American at Cal and she and husband Servando Carrasco – also a Cal soccer player who would go on to play nine years in Major League Soccer – welcomed daughter Charlie in 2020 and a second is on the way, as Morgan confirmed another pregnancy in her retirement video.
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