Orlando welcomes back Morgan, international players to face Spirit
Star Alex Morgan is expected to return to the pitch for the Orlando Pride for the first time since 2019 when the team hosts the Washington Spirit on Wednesday night.
Morgan is back from a European stint with the United States women’s national team. She is joined by Pride teammates Gunny Jónsdóttir (Iceland) and Erin McLeod (Canada), who also competed with their national teams during the April international window.
The trio will help bolster the Pride in their third match of the NWSL Challenge Cup after opening the tournament winless with a tie in Louisville and a loss to Gotham FC.
The match will provide Morgan,
Marta and Sydney Leroux a chance to share the pitch for the first time since 2018.
“Honestly, I don’t know the last time that all three of us have played together,” Morgan said. “I’m really excited to get on the field with Syd and Marta, and not only them, but all the players who haven’t really appeared for Orlando until this season. Even Ali Riley, the last time I played with her was with Western New York.
“I’ve been training with them in and out the last 10 weeks, and now to finally get on the field with them is a long time coming.”
Morgan hasn’t played meaningful minutes for the Pride in nearly two years. The FIFA World Cup kept her out of town for most of the 2019 season, and she played only a handful of minutes after returning from France before being sidelined with a head injury, a knee injury and then her pregnancy.
After the birth of her daughter Charlie last summer, Morgan was on track to return to Orlando for the Fall Series. But the club and the striker decided a loan would be a better way to guarantee competitive minutes; so she packed up her newborn and went to Tottenham in England on a short-term contract.
In Tottenham, Morgan worked back close to her top form, scoring a pair of penalty kicks for the Spurs across five appearances. Although a January bout with COVID-19 set her recovery back by a month, Morgan played in five matches for the U.S. women’s national team in February, scoring goals against Argentina and France.
Morgan hasn’t played a full 90-minute match since the birth of her daughter, but she logged two full 90-minute performances during preseason scrimmages with the Pride.
U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski said Morgan “got the killer instinct back” during April camp, and Morgan said she feels she’s returned to form.
After sharing frustration that the Challenge Cup overlapped the April international window, Morgan watched the first two Pride matches from Europe and said she’s eager to return to the team.
“It’s so great to be back with the team,” Morgan said. “After training through preseason, being pulled away for those first two games was tough. It was also tough to see the results, so I’m excited to get back on the field for the first time in awhile and hopefully get a win.
“I feel really good. I think preseason here really helped me get sharp. I’m ready if the coach wants me to play 90 minutes.”
The end of the international window will bring reinforcements for both teams. Jónsdóttir will make an impact on the midfield, bringing a physical edge to the group.
Besides returning international players, the Pride will be replenished with midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard and Crystal Thomas returning from injury for Wednesday’s match.
The Spirit, meanwhile, will regain Americans Emily Sonnett, Andi Sullivan and Kelley O’Hara. Their return will help the team’s backline and midfield. But the most dynamic player for the Spirit so far this season is a newcomer — rookie Trinity Rodman.
The 18-year-old is the youngest player to be drafted into the NWSL. On April 10 she became the youngest player to ever score in the league, netting her first professional goal against the North Carolina Courage.
Rodman, who is the daughter of former NBA star Dennis Rodman, provides a spark every time she steps on the pitch for the Spirit. She started her second professional match in a 1-0 win over Louisville last Thursday, assisting Ashley Sanchez for the stoppage time game-winning goal.
Although Washington attackers like Sanchez and Ashley Hatch will bring a familiar challenge for the Pride backline, Rodman is an unknown variable for a backline focused on improvement.
Rookie centerbacks Konya Plummer and Phoebe McClernon started the first two matches of the Challenge Cup. Although both players displayed noticeable growth, the Pride have allowed three goals in their first two games.
The Pride are currently tied with Louisville with one point each for the last spot in their group for the Challenge Cup, while the Spirit are in a three-way tie for first with three points.
Coach Marc Skinner and the Pride entered the Challenge Cup with the mentality of using the four games to grow a team that is largely unexperienced with one another.
A third of the roster is made up of first-year players who either debuted in the Fall Series or went on loan in 2020. Nearly 80% of the team entered the season having played four or less matches in a Pride uniform.
“We always want to win every game,” Skinner said. “We haven’t done that yet, but we never enter a game just for the developmental phase of it. We know that as part of a winning culture, you have to have development of your team together, there has to be cohesion, there has to be togetherness.”
The Pride will kick off against the Spirit at Exploria Stadium at 7 p.m. ET. The match will be live streamed on Paramount+ with a Twitch stream available to international fans.