The United States women’s national soccer team has released the list of players selected to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. To the surprise of many fans, the list does not include Alex Morgan, a longtime U.S. national team member whose more than a decade of play has earned her global fame in addition to athletic accolades.
Morgan, now nearly 35, emerged as a top prospect for the USWNT in 2008, and soon became known as a prolific goal scorer, playing for the U.S. in every Olympic Games since Beijing that year and every World Cup tournament since 2011. Her record includes three Olympic medals — one gold, for the USWNT’s victory over Canada at the 2012 Games in London — and two World Cup championships. She most recently served as co-captain of the 2023 World Cup team in New Zealand and Australia.
Morgan reacted to being left out of the latest USWNT roster released on Wednesday.
“Today, I am disappointed to not have the opportunity to represent my country on the Olympic stage,” she wrote in a post on social media. “This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and makes me so proud every time I win a medal. In less than a month, I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them on with the rest of our country.”
FRANK FIFE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
New Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes selected players for this year’s special 18-member Olympic team, which also includes four alternates. Only eight players are returning to the team from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo: goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher; defenders Tierna Davidson, Casey Kruger and Emily Sonnett; midfielders Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Catarina Macario; and forward Crystal Dunn.
According to the U.S. Soccer Federation, the players selected for this Olympic team are younger on average than in previous years. The average age of the 18-member team is 26.8 years, the youngest group selected for a U.S. Olympic team since 2008 and the fourth-youngest in history. The average age of the 2020 Olympic team is 30.8 years, U.S. Soccer said. That team lost to Canada in a semifinal match in Tokyo.
In a statement, Hayes said building the roster “was an extremely competitive process” and “there were tough choices” in narrowing down the final selection.
,“There were a lot of considerations in selecting the 18-player squad and alternates, but I am excited about the squad we have chosen and I look forward to building on the work from last camp as we head into the send-off matches and then to France. These are great opportunities for us to showcase our progress,” his statement continued.
Morgan has scored 123 goals for the US, ranking fifth in the statistics of current and former players. Along the way, she became a beloved and widely known face of US women’s soccer during her tenure on the national team, alongside fellow soccer stars such as former teammate and recently retired Megan Rapinoe. Both Morgan and Rapinoe were among the players who sued US Soccer over equal pay and working conditions and won a historic deal In 2022.
