Alex Morgan Conquered The World

For a wide swath of the soccer-watching populace, the 2011 Women's World Cup final was an introduction, not just to top-end women's soccer, but to Alex Morgan. The then-21-year-old striker had made her first senior national team appearance in March of 2010, and scored earlier on in that World Cup, but it was in the final that she broke through. She had jumped off the screen throughout the tournament in substitute appearances, with her speed and technique and nose for goal combining into a galloping force next to the more static Abby Wambach. In the 69th minute of the final, she had her moment of glory, as a long ball from Megan Rapinoe bounced behind the Japanese back-line, allowing Morgan to run past, and through, the defense before opening the scoring with a tough cross-goal shot:

Morgan didn't win the World Cup on her own after that goal, even if I remember it feeling that way at the time; Japan came back from that deficit, and then from a 2-1 deficit in extra time to win in penalties (Morgan, of course, assisted the United States' second, to Wambach). Still, though, her time would come.

In her career, which came to a close on Sunday night after she announced both her sudden retirement (and that she's pregnant with her second child) on Sept. 5, Morgan was perhaps the most representative star for the United States women's national team. The USWNT had dominated in the early days of the Women's World Cup, winning in 1991 and 1999, but had slumped a bit by the team's incredible high standards in the 2000s. The team won gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, but missed out on the finals in both the 2003 and 2007 World Cups. By the time Morgan came around, the USWNT was in need of fresh blood and a new generation of stars. In that way, her arrival at the 2011 final was only the beginning.

Just one summer later, Morgan scored what is, to me, her definitive goal: Deep into extra time of the Olympic semi-final against Canada, tied 3-3, Morgan rose up and scored the winner to send the U.S. to the final. There was nothing of her speed or technique there; this was a goalscorer's goal, a scrambled together play that ended with a speculative cross by Heather O'Reilly that somehow found the pink headbanded head of Morgan. It was something different, and Morgan always managed to find different ways to help her teams win.

The U.S. would go on to beat Japan in the final of those Olympics, as a minor dose of revenge for the prior summer's World Cup failure. The decade that followed was an inverse of the 2000s: The USWNT would win the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, but failed to continue its Olympics dominance in 2016 or 2020. Through those highs, though, Morgan was one of the steadiest names on the team sheet. From the 2012 Olympics through her final World Cup in 2023, Morgan was the USWNT's central beacon, its starting striker as long as she was on the roster.

For the longest time, she deserved that honor, too; in 14 years on the national team, she scored 123 international goals, good for fifth in team history. She finished tied for the goals lead in the 2019 World Cup, with six, winning the Silver Boot. The player once known as Baby Horse—nicknamed so by her early teammates, because of her distinctive long-stride running style—had matured into a force of nature, and won the titles to prove it. And as her pace lessened throughout the years, she developed a passing game, and further refined her shooting and runs into space. She changed through her eras, as the world of women's soccer changed around her.

While that 2011 World Cup was her first international tournament for the USWNT, the club season that year saw her picked first in the now-defunct Women's Professional Soccer's draft, the league one of the precursors to the NWSL. She played 14 matches with the Western New York Flash as that club won the regular season-playoff double. The next year, she was with the Seattle Sounders Women, in the also-defunct USL W-League. It wasn't until 2013 that the NWSL came around, finally giving Morgan and her generation of players a more permanent home.

It's wild to think about now, as the league grows and does away with the draft in order to keep up with the rest of the world, but the NWSL became the best league in the world not because of massive investment but the quality of players. Morgan was never quite the best player in the world, but she could always be counted on to be one of the best players in the best league. Sure, her European excursions—to Lyon in 2017, and to Tottenham in 2020—weren't massively successful, but her 60 NWSL goals are good enough for fourth all-time. She won an NWSL title with Portland in 2013, and has a Champions League medal from her Lyon stint. Morgan never had that one special season to look back on, seemingly saving her very best performances for the national team; her best domestic goal tally was 15 in the Wave's first season. That never mattered though; as women's soccer gained a foothold in the United States, so did Morgan in the growing lore around the sport.

Morgan was also important off the field, as she helped lead the women's team's fight for equal pay within the U.S. Soccer ecosystem. She was one of the five players—along with Rapinoe, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, and Becky Sauerbrunn—who filed a wage discrimination complaint against the federation in 2016, and she was part of the lawsuit against U.S. Soccer in 2019 that helped pave the way for equal pay in 2022. Morgan took to her star status with aplomb, never shy to speak up against unfair treatment of her teammates. She advocated for herself and for the sport, and now she gets to retire with the game in what she calls an "amazing place."

It's heartening that Morgan gets to walk away on her own terms, with only half a week's notice. The signs were there; at the 2023 World Cup, Morgan seemed past it, as the USWNT had its worst finish at a World Cup ever. She wasn't taken to the 2024 Olympics, which ended in a gold medal as the attacking trident of Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith, and Trinity Rodman ushered in a new era for the team, just as Morgan helped do 13 years prior. The game keeps moving on, but Morgan's contributions will be remembered far longer than any late-career disappointments.

Her final game on Sunday night, a 4-1 loss to the North Carolina Courage, wasn't a final, the type of game Morgan made her own throughout her career. It was not even a particularly consequential game for the Wave, who sit in third-to-last on the NWSL table with little hopes of making the playoffs. No matter, though, because the game was a chance to say goodbye to one of the sport's most prolific and most important players.

It was short, but what a goodbye it was. After walking out to the field hand-in-hand with her daughter Charlie, Morgan was at the center of the match from the first whistle, even as North Carolina scored in the fourth minute. Just one minute later, she received the ball just outside the box and blasted a left-footed shot, so similar to so many left-footed shots she had fired off in her career, only for Casey Murphy to make a full stretch save to keep it out. Murphy played spoil sport again four minutes later, as a handball in the box gave Morgan a chance to score from the penalty spot. Her shot was perhaps too close to the center of the goal, and Murphy kept it out again.

Morgan wouldn't get a better chance than that, but it didn't matter. It was fitting that the 13th minute, which elicited a roar from the crowd in honor of Morgan's own jersey number, saw 23-year-old Kennedy Wesley score to equalize for the Wave. After all, this match wasn't meant to be a showcase for Morgan, but rather her passing the baton to the new generation. Just one minute after that goal, Morgan came off for the final time, taking off her boots and soaking in one last cheer from the Wave fans.

Tears and all, she walked off the field the way she played, with her head held high. For the past decade and a half, Morgan helped to define women's soccer, and to carve out a space for the sport to grow. If the sport is now in an "amazing place," it is in large part because of what Alex Morgan was able to accomplish.