The United States Women's National Soccer Team has unveiled its roster of players tapped to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. To the surprise of many fans, the list does not include Alex Morgan, a longtime member of the U.S. national team whose performance on the field over more than a decade has earned her global celebrity in addition to athletic accolades.
Morgan, now almost 35, emerged as a top prospect for the USWNT in 2008, and quickly became known as a prolific goal scorer who would go on to play for the U.S. in every Olympic Games since Beijing that year, and every World Cup tournament since 2011. Her record boasts three Olympic medals — one gold, for the USWNT's win against Canada at the games in London in 2012 — and two World Cup Championships. She recently served as co-captain of the 2023 World Cup team in New Zealand and Australia.
Morgan responded to being left off of the latest USWNT roster after its release on Wednesday.
"Today, I'm disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage," she wrote in a social media post. "This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I take immense pride any time I put on the crest. In less than a month, I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them on alongside the rest of our country."
Emma Hayes, the new head coach of the women's national team, selected the players for this year's exclusive 18-member Olympic team, which also includes four alternates. Only eight are returning to the team from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo: goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher; defenders Tierna Davidson, Casey Krueger and Emily Sonnett; midfielders Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Catarina Macario; and forward Crystal Dunn.
Players selected for this Olympic team are younger, on average, than in previous years, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation. The 18-person roster has an average age of 26.8, the youngest group tapped for the U.S. Olympic team since 2008 and the fourth-youngest group in history. U.S. Soccer said the average age of the 2020 Olympics team was 30.8 years old. That team lost to Canada in the semifinal match in Tokyo.
In a statement, Hayes said that building the roster "was an extremely competitive process" and "there were difficult choices" in narrowing down the final picks.
"Choosing an 18-player roster plus alternates involved many considerations, but I am excited for the group we have selected and I'm looking forward to building on the work from last camp as we head into the Send-Off matches and then onto France. These are great opportunities for us to continue to show the progress we are making," her statement continued.
Morgan has scored 123 goals for the U.S., a career total that ranks fifth among current and former players' statistics. With that, she became a beloved and widely-known face of U.S. women's soccer during her tenure on the national team, alongside former teammates and fellow soccer stars like the newly-retired Megan Rapinoe. Both Morgan and Rapinoe were among the players who sued U.S. Soccer over equal pay and working conditions and won in a landmark settlement in 2022.
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