‘Incredibly cut-throat’ – USWNT legend Carli Lloyd reacts to seeing 123-goal Alex Morgan left out of Emma Hayes’ squad for Olympic gold medal bid in Paris

Despite boasting over 220 caps for her country, and two World Cup triumphs, Morgan has been omitted from Emma Hayes’ squad for a gold medal bid in France. Morgan is now enjoying a mid-season break, as NWSL action also shuts down, with the 35-year-old having to make peace with disappointing news on the professional front.

Lloyd, who made 316 appearances for the USWNT and scored 134 goals, has told US Weekly of Morgan’s surprising snub: “I can imagine it’s hard. She has been a big staple to the team for so many years. I would imagine that it’s not the news that you want to hear. It’s going to be one of those things where some people are not going to like the news they hear, so it’s tough. It never gets any easier. I think what people don’t realise is it is cut-throat, incredibly cut-throat. But also, it’s somewhat easy to get there, but to stay there and to be a consistent player for many, many years is one of the hardest things to do.”

Change was always going to be on the cards after the United States flopped at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, with Morgan now paying the price for that as a new generation of talent emerges. Lloyd added: “That’s why you always have to constantly be evolving your game. You always have to be proving yourself out on the field and production matters. The way that you play and for her sake, as a goal scorer, you got to score goals.”

The USWNT, who battled past Mexico in their latest outing, have one more friendly date to take in – against Costa Rica – before opening their bid for a first Olympic gold since 2012 when facing Zambia in Nice on July 25.