PHILADELPHIA — Alex Morgan hasn’t forgotten what it was like the last time the U.S. women’s soccer team played a major Concacaf competition outside of the United States.
It was in 2010 in Cancún, Mexico, and the Americans were beaten by the hosts in the semifinals. That forced Morgan and company to win the third-place game against Costa Rica, then face Italy in a home-and-away playoff for the last ticket to Germany 2011.
Morgan was part of the U.S. squad back then, eight months after making her senior national team debut as a 21-year-old. Now age 32, she has led a new generation of American phenoms back to Mexico — this time Monterrey, where Concacaf is holding this month’s World Cup and Olympics qualifying tournament.
“I’m actually very, very happy that we’re playing in Monterrey, in Mexico, rather than another qualifying tournament in the U.S.,” Morgan told The Philadelphia Inquirer by phone from the U.S. team’s camp. “I think this helps give us more tools to prepare for the World Cup than a tournament would in the U.S. ... I think that this is going to really help a lot of the players that haven’t seen things that they’re going to experience here in Mexico for the first time.”
And she has a few stories to tell.
“You look at the amount of friendlies we play each year, and most of those friendlies occur inside the U.S. — in our comfort zone, with our fans, on [practice] fields or in a stadium that we all know very well,” Morgan said. “Last time we played in Mexico, we had a lot of the fans getting very rowdy, and really booing us and throwing things on the field, and doing anything for us to get off our game.”
‘Make a name for myself’
There will be games at two stadiums, Tigres UANL’s raucous old Estadio Universitario and CF Monterrey’s sparkling new Estadio BBVA — the latter of which will be a 2026 men’s World Cup venue. The U.S. and its fellow Group A teams will play two of their three group games at the Universitario, which for the Americans are Monday’s opener vs. Haiti and the July 11 group stage finale vs. Mexico.
The atmosphere should be electric, especially for the big U.S.-Mexico clash.
“For us, this is such an important tournament to take that step forward, exercise game management, self-control, you know, not being distracted,” Morgan said. “Following through with a game plan when different things are thrown at you — not literally, but figuratively.”
This tournament’s dynamic will also be different because only the winner qualifies directly for the 2024 Olympics. Traditionally, Concacaf’s two Olympic berths have gone to the semifinal winners of a stand-alone Olympic qualifying tournament. This time, the title game’s loser goes into a home-and-away playoff (to take place next year) with the third-place finisher.
Put less politely, the title game of Olympic qualifying tournaments wasn’t the game that mattered most. Raising the stakes of the final could mean changing the U.S. team’s workload dynamics. Morgan said she’s ready for that.
“Vlatko has been very transparent with the team about where we are now and how that’s going to play a factor into players playing minutes,” she said of U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski. “But at the end of the day, we’re here to win the tournament, and we’re here to put the best players on the field. And, for me, I’m here to continue to make a name for myself on this team, get back into the squad definitively, and help this team.”
On a scoring streak
That was an interesting turn of phrase. You would think that Morgan wouldn’t have to make a name for herself with anyone these days. But with the U.S. attacking depth chart among the deepest of any in team history, she isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s not only making a name for myself with my teammates or with the fans, but it’s making sure that my name is continuing to be brought up in talks with the coaches and with the lineups,” Morgan said. “I’m going to do everything I can to help this team win, and I want to help all the other forwards create as much success for this team as well. But not being here in the last eight months, I have to bring it back to the basics.”
That means, she continued, “doing what I do best: It’s looking at [the] team first, it’s looking at how I can help contribute to this team’s winning mentality, this team’s success.”
It certainly helps that Morgan is in sensational form with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, the league’s top scorer for the league’s best team. Morgan has 15 goals in 16 games for the Wave this year, between the Challenge Cup (4 in 6) and regular season (11 in 10). She took a three-goal lead in the Golden Boot race into the international break.
“I think it’s some of the best finishing I’ve seen from her, and I’ve played with her for a very long time,” said Gotham FC’s Ali Krieger, one of Morgan’s former teammates on the U.S. team and the NWSL’s Orlando Pride. Gotham was on the receiving end of Morgan’s last two goals before she left for the national team’s June training camp in the Rockies.
“I’m so happy for her,” Krieger said. “I think she deserves it. And now that you have to prove yourself every single game in order to get a call, you’re forced to be consistent and play well, and she’s taken that and rolled her sleeves up and done a really great job.”
Good times on and off the field
What does Morgan think has fueled her hot streak? She had plenty to say, starting with the strength of her relationship with the expansion team’s manager, Casey Stoney.
“I felt like we were able to quickly form a style of play and an identity on the field that we’re trying to sharpen every day,” Morgan said. “I felt like all the players were 100 percent motivated and encouraged to play for the Wave, for Casey, and for each other, and I think that that hasn’t always been the case with my previous teams in the NWSL. It feels really good to feel 100 percent supported by an organization and a coach in the way that gives me confidence, and lets me play freely on the field without fear of mistakes.”
It also helps that Morgan is happy off the field. She has settled with her daughter, Charlie, and husband, Servando Carrasco, in a place where they’ve long wanted to live. He’s from Coronado, just across the bay, and she regularly traveled there from her suburban Los Angeles hometown for youth soccer tournaments.
“Having an opportunity to be able to both play soccer and settle down as a family, it is the first time in my career that I’ve been able to do something like that,” Morgan said. “I think that everything’s come together at the right time, and that just translates to on-field success and feeling good and feeling confident.”
