Back from the brink! Alex Morgan's USWNT career might not be over after all following Gold Cup resurgence

After the World Cup, the USWNT began to phase out a number of their most experienced stars. Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz were first to go after announcing their retirements, but it was quickly made clear that a more wide-ranging change of the guard was fully underway.

Morgan, a true USWNT legend, began to fall down the pecking order, as she was left out of camp for the final friendlies of 2023. At the time, the thought process was that it was a good time to look at new faces and that Morgan would inevitably be back. But if one exclusion is an experiment, two exclusions are a trend, and that's what we got in February.

The 34-year-old striker was left out of the USWNT's Gold Cup squad entirely. Even with several training camp invitees, Morgan's name was totally absent. It appeared that the U.S. was singularly focused on ushering in a new generation of forwards, with rising stars Jaedyn Shaw and Mia Fishel joining World Cup veterans Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith as the faces of that next group.

An untimely injury, though, led to Morgan's return, and she's made the most of it.

It looked like this Gold Cup was going to be Fishel's chance for big breakout. The Chelsea star got her first taste of USWNT minutes post-World Cup, scoring in her second appearance, a 3-0 win over Colombia.

Throughout her young career, Fishel has developed a reputation for being a pure goalscorer, with her 35 strikes in 46 appearances for Tigres during the 2022-23 season earning her a move to Chelsea and that initial USWNT look.

However, the 22-year-old suffered a heart-breaking ACL injury on the eve of the tournament, one that will keep her out for some time. It's a horrible, horrible blow to a player who still has so much ahead of her, even if it'll take her a bit longer now to go and claim it.

In need of a new striker, the USWNT turned back to Morgan to step into the squad on short notice.

"I had just gotten to Coachella tournament for our preseason tournament with San Diego. I literally had been there for an hour, so I had a carry-on suitcase assuming I was going to be gone for three days," Morgan told Futbol Americas. "I got the call and said, 'Okay, now time to go to LA.' I was there within two-and-a-half hours and then played the next night. So it was a little bit of a whirlwind, but at the same time, I understood that it was a long lead-up to the Gold Cup, a lot of training sessions, anything could happen.

"I wanted to stay ready in case of injury or anything, and that's what I did. I worked hard, dug in with San Diego, did extra with Casey [Stoney], our coach at San Diego, and wanted to just use this preseason as an opportunity for myself to grow as a player and as a teammate, and was fortunate enough to get the call."

Watching Morgan wear the No.7 still looks weird, even after seeing it for a few games. Seeing the name 'Morgan' on a USWNT shirt with anything other than the No.13 feels like sacrilege. Even so, Morgan has taken that new number and run with it, making several big statements in the process.

First she needed to end her goal drought, one that hung over her head for about a year. That happened in the 5-0 win over the Dominican Republic in the tournament opener, with the goal coming 363 days after her last for the USWNT. Then, after going just short of a year between goals, she scored again two days later, looping in a header for the third of four goals in the win over Argentina.

It hasn't just been the goals, though. In the quarterfinal clash with Colombia, she played a key part in Jenna Nighswonger's goal in a match that ended as a 3-0 USWNT win. That was only one moment of Morgan doing the dirty work, the unseen and unquantified efforts that don't pop up on that stat sheet as much. Throughout this tournament, Morgan's ability to put her and her teammates into dangerous positions has been extremely valuable for a team that, aside from the shock loss to Mexico, has largely looked dominant.

"Being on the front foot, and making sure that our 9 and 10 was ready to defend, was a really important thing in the game," interim coach Twila Kilgore said of Morgan. "I thought Alex did a tremendous job, had a very veteran performance."

Morgan's contributions haven't just been with her play, though, as her attitude has also helped the USWNT set a tone.

Morgan's words carry weight; that much is certain. When you have as many caps, goals and trophies as she does, what you say and do becomes just a bit more relevant, and doubly so when you consider the fact that half of the USWNT locker room grew up idolizing here.

So, when the USWNT was embarrassed by Mexico, it was Morgan who stepped up to let the rest of the team know what's what.

“Mexico deserved that win against us,” Morgan told Futbol Americas. “We didn’t play well, we didn’t execute the game plan well, we didn’t take advantage of opportunities and they did. They had incredible chances and goals and put us on our heels. It was a tough defeat.

“In the locker room, I definitely had some words to share just about how we can’t allow this to happen through 90 minutes. I mean, 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, but a 90-minute match like we did against Mexico, it wasn’t in our DNA, it wasn’t good enough.”

When the USWNT took the field in their next match against Colombia, it was clear that the team did so with a different attitude. Colombia tried to push the U.S. around, but Morgan and the U.S. showed little fear in pushing back. Just minutes into the game, Morgan was getting right into the faces of any Colombian defender in her way. They wouldn't be able to unsettle the U.S.... Not today.

When the U.S. was awarded a penalty, Morgan was smart enough to play decoy. Colombia pulled off all the usual tricks to try and unsettle a penalty taker, only for Morgan to toss the ball to Lindsey Horan. Less than 15 minutes into the match, the USWNT had set a tone that they wouldn't be bullied or pushed around.

Instead, they did much of the bullying, in terms of play and attitude. Rodman walked a tightrope but walked it well enough to avoid a red card despite repeated clashes with Colombian players. The referee let the game get a bit out of hand, but the USNWT, in general, did just enough to avoid trouble while fighting back on their terms.

Because of that, it was one of the most impressive performances the U.S. has had in a while. They've scored plenty since the World Cup, yes, but this was the first match where they showed a little bit of that rougher side, one that will help them massively at the Olympics this summer. And it was Morgan who set the tone for it all, refusing to back down while leading from the very front.

Fishel's injury leaves the U.S. facing a very real problem. As things stand, there are some holes to fill at striker for the Olympics.

Smith is still the most likely to take the starting spot, moving inside after playing on the wing at the World Cup to accommodate Morgan. The positive of that it opens a spot in the team for Shaw, Mal Swanson, Alyssa Thompson or one of the other seemingly endless pool of talented wingers at Hayes' disposal.

The negative, though, is that Smith's goalscoring record hasn't been fantastic with the U.S. for some time, leaving questions about whether she can effectively lead the line at the top levels of the international game. Given her talent, it seems like she should be able to, but it's easy to forget that 23-year-old Smith is still pretty young because of all of her success.

After that, the depth falls off a cliff. The USWNT is simply much deeper at winger than striker, with Ashley Hatch really the only option in the mix as a pure No.9. That's what makes Morgan's status so interesting, as it appears there is now a legitimate pathway open for her to not only make the Olympic roster, but potentially start in France this summer.

Hayes will have some difficult decisions to make once she takes over, and those decisions are made all the more difficult due to the roster sizes at play. Only 18 players can go to France, and so every last decision has to be correct.

So how does that impact Morgan? What can she do to remain in consideration all the way through the summer? Well, she's already made a solid case for inclusion. Morgan is no longer the 'Baby Horse' that American soccer fans originally fell in love with. That pace has dipped a bit, but her brain has clearly sped up. Morgan's ability to drop deep and help dictate play should help the USWNT's talented wingers.

More important than that, though, will be goals. They dried up too much in 2023, which is part of the reason the USWNT struggled at the World Cup. She doesn't have to carry the goalscoring load herself, but if she is the starting No. 9, she does need to contribute. The deeper stats showed that her goal drought was largely due to bad luck; will that swing back to her side in 2024?

Over the next few months, Hayes will have to figure that out. Morgan has an NWSL season starting soon in addition to several big USWNT games ahead. The Gold Cup isn't over yet, but there's still a SheBelieves Cup and some pre-tournament friendlies for her to impress in. If she can continue to make an impact in those games, she'll have truly bullied her way right back into the USWNT picture.

Morgan's sendoff is still coming relatively soon. A new generation is rising and, for the most part, will be relied upon to lead the way at Paris 2024. Morgan, though, may have one final run in her, and if she is selected, it won't be due to sentimentality or status; it'll be because she earned it.