Alex Morgan has made herself a name in the women’s game, as football tends to an escape from the tumult of life and become a superstar even beyond the pitch of play as it often serves as an engine of change in the messy world and also serves as a life-changer to the athlete that gets involved in the sport.
The United State Women national team (USWNT) has established itself as one of the biggest force in women’s football, and they’ve produced some of the world’s greatest players in women’s football such as Michelle Akers, the great Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Mia Hamm and many more who had donned the red, white and blue jersey of United States.
And most importantly all of the aforementioned individual’s talent has consistently done something great for the women team on the international stage which has produced three World Cup titles in seven attempts, four gold medals in six Olympic tournaments and the Concacaf Championship is one title they regularly won since its inception.
Having seen great players like Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm donned the United States jersey, another player that comes to mind is Alex Morgan whom we will be talking about today, as she grew through the college to become a superstar and went on to achieved success with the women team.
In the last three-decade, talent inflow of women soccer players in the United States has been very limitless. In fact, it is a known fact that the American women player or athlete as the case may be are so talented that players who would have been a number one starter for another team or countries don’t even get to make their starting eleven or the team proper, which is a testament to the fact that they are good with what they do and as such, they have a lot of talented players.
Alex Morgan’s Journey
Alexandra Patricia Morgan was born on July 2, 1989, in San Dimas, California. Although she was a multisport athlete growing up, Morgan didn’t start playing organized soccer until she was 14 years old. She attended Diamond Bar High School, where she was a three-time all-league pick and was named an NSCAA All-American.
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Alex Morgan just like the other players who had donned the national team jersey in the past is one huge phenomenal talented player who over the years has risen from an unknown college player to become one of the most important and famous soccer players in the United States and to some extent in the world.
Shortly after her graduation from the University of California, Berkeley where she played for the California Golden Bears Morgan got drafted into the team of the Western New York Flash and from there on she made her professional debut, helped the team win the championship at the age of 22, during that time she also led the team goals chart consistently for four seasons.
During her stint with the California Golden Bears, she was a pivotal role in helping her team reached the NCAA Tournament four years in a row, Morgan grew into a better and well-rounded player which brought about her invitation into the team in 2010 where she was called up into the national team being the youngest player in that team. But, unfortunately, their 2011 World Cup outing wasn’t a successful one as they finished second behind Japan who was the winner of the tournament.
Alex Morgan has been ridiculously competitive since she was a kid — to the point that her father, Mike, has gone on the record describing her ruthless mentality as “scary.”
So after their second-place finished at the World Cup in 2011, in 2012 she went on to score 28 goals and 21 assists which at that time will be the second time a player for the national team will score at least close to 20 goals and 21 assists in a calendar year for the national team as the only player who has done that was the legendary Mia Hamm.
That achievement got her nominated for the ESPY Award for the Best Breakthrough Athlete, she also won the female athlete of the year and finished third in the voting for the Ballon d’Or award as the third-best player in the world.
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At age 24, though now 30 years of age, Alex Morgan was chosen as part of the eleven players for the centennial anniversary of the United States Soccer Federation, thereafter she injured her knee while playing for the Portland Thorns of the NWS League.
Leading to the time of the World Cup she spends two months recovering and she eventually made it to the tournament where she played seven matches, although she didn’t record a lot of goals at the competition but she was able to help her team triumph.
You cannot talk about Morgan’s achievement without talking about her SheBelieves Cup triumph in 2016 where she won the golden boot and the most valuable player award, in a tournament that involved a four-team competition which included France, Germany, England and the United States of America.
Alex Morgan also won the silver boot in 2019 having won the World Cup with the national team, and she was named among the dream team of the tournament, interesting Morgan’s success wasn’t only about the national team, she also won continental European treble, which included the UEFA Women’s Champion League when she went on loan to Lyon from Orlando Pride.
Morgan became the first woman to scored a World Cup goal on her birthday and up until now, she has played over 169 matches for the national team and scored 107 goals, an achievement which has put her on the front burner as one of the best soccer players in World, in addition to all of that her success on the field has made her a role model and a soccer idol.
Although a large chunk of female football stars has played for the US national team and achieved great success with players such as Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Hope Solo, and many more, in fact for the record many would still come up the rank.
However, the trajectory of Alex Morgan from an unknown college player to one of the most famous female soccer player and a role model has been a story which other young and upcoming players should borrow inspiration from to help them mature organically into a better player for the ‘Stars and Stripes’ of United States and for themselves at club levels.
