This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Alex Morgan could feel it was time. She was ready for one last farewell.
The longtime face of women’s soccer held her retirement press conference Friday, one day after revealing on social media that she is pregnant with her second child and set to conclude her decorated playing career this weekend.
“I felt like for my body and my mind and my heart, this was the right decision at this time,” Morgan told reporters Friday in San Diego.
Morgan, 35, will suit up for the last time Sunday for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave in their home match against the North Carolina Courage.
Morgan admitted that her latest pregnancy played a role in the timing of her decision.
“As unexpected as it was, I was so happy because this is what our family wanted, a couple months sooner than expected, but nonetheless, we were very overjoyed,” Morgan said.
The two-time U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year (2012, 2018) is etched among the greats in women’s soccer history.
She scored 123 goals, good for fifth all time, and is ninth in USWNT history with 53 career assists. The USWNT went 177-15-32 in matches she played. She scored in 86 of her 224 international appearances, and her team never lost in those matches, going 76-0-10.
Her 176 combined goals and assists rank fifth all-time in USWNT lore behind only Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd.
In the pro ranks, Morgan was part of the championship-winning Portland Thorns FC in the first season of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2013. She also has played for the Orlando Pride and the Wave, whom she joined in their expansion year of 2022. Morgan grew up in Southern California.
Morgan was not selected for the USWNT squad that won gold at the Paris Olympics but said Friday she was proud of the next generation of American stars who took the mantle.
“Although this year wasn’t the year that I hoped to have, I’m so proud of the U.S. national team going to France and winning gold,” Morgan said. “That to me is a proud moment because I see some of those players playing in that game — I see Trinity (Rodman), Soph (Smith), Naomi (Girma), even Croix (Bethune) coming in and having a big part in the team when it was a little unexpected for her.”
Morgan then turned her attention to one of the crowning achievements of her career off the pitch — helping the USWNT earn equal pay to their male counterparts after a contracted legal dispute with U.S. soccer.
“Some of these younger players who have been able to just focus on themselves, focus on their teams, get better every day, have a pathway to be able to do that, have the resources to do that — that’s what I fought for,” Morgan said. “I haven’t always — and I’ve known that I wouldn’t always benefit from all the things that I fought for. But in fighting for equal pay, and attaining that finally, was such a pivotal moment in the history of women’s soccer. It created this sort of butterfly effect throughout women’s soccer globally that is irreversible and that I only see continuing to grow.
“We’re in good hands. The future of women’s soccer — the now, the present and the future of women’s soccer — is in such an amazing place where I have done everything that I’ve needed to do. I have accomplished everything that I have come to do and achieved what I’ve needed to do, and to see those players step on the field and do work and be able to do it at such a young age with such poise and such confidence, that’s what this is all about.”
Morgan has played in 12 matches this season with the Wave and has one assist. In her NWSL career, she has 88 points (60 goals, 28 assists) in 149 matches (138 starts).
–Field Level Media
