Alex Morgan Hangs Up the Pink Pre-Wrap After 14-Year Pro Career
The face of the USWNT for the last decade unexpectedly calls it quits, announcing she’s pregnant with her second child.
Alex Morgan announced her retirement and played in her last game within the span of four days.
News broke of Alex Morgan’s sudden retirement Thursday of last week, and was swiftly followed by her last-ever professional game for the San Diego Wave on Sunday. The 35-year-old genuine USWNT legend revealed she’s pregnant with her second child, but it seems pretty clear there were other factors at play in her decision.
Failing to make Emma Hayes’ Olympics roster for the Paris Games must have marked a turning point for Morgan, indicating she’s no longer a player the team will be looking to as they build for the future. With Triple Espresso (Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson) asserting their dominance up top, and with other young bucks like Jaedyn Shaw, Catarina Macario, Croix Bethune, and Alyssa Thompson in the mix as well, there really isn’t any space for a veteran forward like Morgan to hang around in a meaningful way.
Despite winning the NWSL Golden Boot just 2 years ago, Morgan has failed to score a single goal for the San Diego Wave all season. Not the numbers you want from a forward, and you’d have to imagine she hasn’t been too thrilled with her lagging form either.
The Wave isn’t exactly a team you want to be playing for anyway right now, with their dismal spot in the table (12th out of 14 teams) reflective of the turmoil the franchise is currently battling. After unceremoniously and inexplicably sacking head coach Casey Stoney mid-season, they made the bizarre appointment of former USMNT player Landon Donovan as their interim head coach. Without the bonafides to back up this hire, major questions have to be asked of the Wave president, Jill Ellis (former USWNT head coach), who is also under fire for the toxic work environment that proliferates the Wave organization. This is all to say, the timing of Morgan’s departure doesn’t feel like a complete coincidence.
On-Field Accolades:
Morgan’s style of play as a center forward has always encapsulated classic American soccer, in terms of directness, power, speed, and sheer athleticism. When she broke onto the scene in 2010 following her first game appearance with the USWNT, she was quickly dubbed “baby horse” by her teammates, for her leggy gate and strength. While deft touches and European-style finesse and creativity isn’t necessarily what she’s known for, you can’t argue her effectiveness.
Okay, she low-key popped off:
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup runner-up with the USWNT
2011 WPS Champion with the Western New York Flash
2012 London Olympics Gold Medalist with the USWNT
2012 US Soccer Female Athlete of the Year
2013 NWSL Champion with the Portland Thorns
2013 CONCACAF Female Player of the Year
2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship winner with the USWNT
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion with the USWNT
2016 SheBelieves Cup winner with the USWNT
2017 Champions League Champion with Lyon
2017 Division 1 Féminine Champion with Lyon
2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship winner with the USWNT
2018 SheBelieves Cup winner with the USWNT
2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion with the USWNT
2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Silver Boot winner (6 goals, 3 assists)
2020 Tokyo Olympics Bronze Medalist with the USWNT
2021 SheBelieves Cup winner with the USWNT
2022 NWSL Golden Boot winner with the San Diego Wave; 15 goals (including five from penalty kicks) in 17 games
2022 CONCACAF Women's Championship winner with the USWNT
2023 NWSL Shield winner with the San Diego Wave
2023 SheBelieves Cup winner with the USWNT
2024 NWSL Challenge Cup winner with the San Diego Wave
2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup winner with the USWNT
2024 SheBelieves Cup winner with the USWNT
Career Stats:
USWNT caps (international appearances) : 224
USWNT Goals: 123
USWNT Assists: 53
NWSL regular season appearances: 150
NWSL Goals: 60
NWSL Assists: 23
Morgan also holds the USWNT record for the most goals scored as a mother, scoring 14 national team goals since giving birth to her daughter in May 2020.
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Off-the-Field Advocacy and Impact
As impressive as that list above of on-field accolades is, the most important aspect of Morgan’s legacy is the work she’s done to push the women’s game forward domestically, amplify women’s soccer globally, and to demand care and compensation on par with her male counterparts.
Morgan was a central figure in the USWNT’s fight for equal pay, in which she and a core group of USWNT players filed an EEOC complaint over inequality in pay and treatment in US women’s soccer. In 2022, Morgan’s efforts came to fruition with a ruling that required men and women to be paid an equal rate for all friendlies and tournaments. This landmark achievement has reverberated throughout women’s sports and beyond, and will forever be a part of Morgan’s legacy.
Morgan has also been outspoken against other injustices players have faced within the NWSL, fighting for an anti-harassment policy in the league and going to bat for players like her former Portland Thorns teammates Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly, who were sexually harassed and coerced by their coach Paul Riley.
Most recently, Morgan has continued to use her platform to launch the Alex Morgan Foundation in San Diego, to help fund programs for women and girls to achieve in sports and life.
Iconic Intangibles
Pink Pre-Wrap Frenzy
For as long as Morgan has been in our public consciousness, she’s been wearing her signature pink pre-wrap. Many athletes wear pre-wrap as headbands while playing to keep flyaways at bay, but in a brilliant act of personal branding Morgan has consistently worn bright pink pre-wrap from the jump. She’s done this ever since her college games at the University of California, Berkeley, as a tribute to her then boyfriend and now husband’s mother who was battling (and eventually beat!) breast cancer at the time.
Tea-Sipping Celly
Years from now when we think back on Alex Morgan, the image of her tea-sipping celebration from the 2019 World Cup in France is sure to endure. The signature celly was born in the USWNT’s semi-final match against England, when Morgan put the USA up 2-1 with a header goal to seal the win and a berth into the World Cup Final (which they famously went on to win). The gesture was met with some English backlash, most fervently from broadcaster and noted fool Piers Morgan, who claimed the celebration was a “declaration of war.” The superior Morgan defended herself, explaining that her tea sipping celly was an homage to English Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner, who often signs off of social media videos with the common phrase, “and that’s the tea.”
Using Hotness for Good
One thing is undeniable about Morgan’s stardom: she’s hot. And by “hot” we of course mean in that westernized, conventionally attractive, long ponytail and blue-eyed sort of way. Would her celebrity have risen to the heights it has if she wasn’t so visually palatable? Probably not! This is America, folks! She famously flaunted her ab-tastic bod on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2019 following her World Cup heroics, thus cementing her legacy as a certified hottie.
With great hotness comes great responsibility, and to her credit, Morgan has harnessed the power of her hotness for good throughout her career. She’s seized the attention she attracts for her looks to build her brand and platform, and has then used that influence to grow the women’s game.
Welcomed Daughter, Charlie, in 2020
In May 2020, Morgan joined the impressive ranks of pro athletes who have given birth and then returned to the field, when she gave birth to her daughter, Charlie. Since then, Charlie has been at Morgan’s side during away game travel, pregame arrivals, post-game on-field mingling, and even press conferences. Who knows, maybe we’ll see Charlie in a USWNT kit of her own and rocking some pink pre-wrap at the 2040 World Cup.
Morgan’s Last Match
Sunday, September 8th at Snapdragon Stadium vs. NC Courage
Morgan played in her final professional match this past Sunday in a jam-packed Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego in front of 26,516 fans. Upon her retirement announcement via Instagram, the Wave sold 12,000 more tickets to this game, emblematic of her impact on the NWSL and the sport. Similarly symbolic was the subsequent move to air the game beyond its typical Paramount+ and NWSL+ streaming platforms, expanding to CBS Sports Network, Prime Video, ESPN2, and ESPN+. This marked the first ever simulcast of a women’s sporting event broadcast on national television.
The on-field storybook narrative wasn’t meant to be for Morgan, however, as she missed a penalty kick in the 10th minute of the match (it was saved by her former USWNT teammate Casey Murphy), and was subbed off just 3 minutes later in the 13th minute in honor of her jersey number. But she walked off in her socks with her head held high and her cleats in her hands, after ceremoniously taking them off in the center circle of the field and thanking the crowd one last time.
Final Game Day Fit
Morgan might have missed her PK, but (more importantly) she nailed her last Game Day Fit. She’s a figure who can be a bit hit or miss in the fit department (someone had to say it), but we loved her green three-piece suit and crisp white kicks, accompanied by Charlie in a Wave jersey with “Mom” on the back at her side. The Kate Spade soccer ball purse was a bit corny, but we liked the rest of the look so much she gets a pass for that.
So, What’s Next for Alex?
When a star athlete of Morgan’s notoriety stops playing professionally, it’s alway curious to see what comes next. 35 might be considered ancient in pro-soccer land, but in the real world that’s just a baby! She has a whole career ahead of her outside of playing, which could take her in whatever direction she pleases. Many former athletes go the sports media route, while others continue on in coaching. But Morgan doesn’t seem interested in either of these well-trod paths, and has already asserted a different route: “I think that I’ve found my calling in just investing in women’s sports, doing as much as I can to give as big of a platform to women’s sports as possible.”
A nice tribute to Alex!