Since winning the 2019 World Cup, Alex Morgan has had two long absences from the US national team. The first was her choice: she had a baby girl, Charlie, in May 2020. Coupled with an ankle injury, that kept her out of international action for 508 days.
The second absence was coach Vlatko Andonovski’s decision. In the wake of the team’s disappointing 2021 Olympics (the US won bronze – an achievement in the eyes of most, but not the four-time winners), he omitted several veterans to look at emerging talent. “There’s a reason we’re not calling Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy in camp,” he observed, citing two past greats, long retired.
That absence lasted 242 days and Morgan wasn’t sure it would ever end: the team played seven matches without her, including the victorious 2022 She Believes Cup campaign.
Morgan was a month shy of her 33rd birthday when Andonovski told her she was back in the squad, and she later admitted when she took the call that she “had no idea” what the news was going to be.
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