Alex Morgan leads USWNT in Summer Series against Portugal

Orlando Pride star Alex Morgan returns to action with the U.S. women’s national team on Thursday, kicking off a three-game Summer Series as the team prepares for the Tokyo Olympics in July.

The Americans will play Portugal on Thursday, kicking off at 8:30 p.m. in Houston with a live broadcast on FS1. The team will go on to face Jamaica on Sunday and Nigeria next Wednesday.

After she scored four goals and added an assist in the Pride’s first five games of the NWSL regular season, U.S. national team coach Vlatko Andonovski said Morgan’s performance is promising for the Americans in Tokyo.

“I think that Alex’s form in club is extraordinary,” Andonovski said. “Firstly she’s scoring goals and deciding games which is absolutely amazing, But also she’s very involved in everything that the Pride are doing, which makes me happy because it is very similar how we see her role with us, being involved in organizing the attack but also getting behind the through balls and finishing those attacks.”

Morgan spent the last year working to return to the international stage after the birth of daughter Charlie.

The striker previously credited the extensive preseason with the Pride to helping her sharpen up to her previous form, playing every minute of the team’s first five matches of the regular season. Andonovski said the striker’s improvement with the club has been visible.

“One thing that I was saying, for all the players but especially for the forwards, was [that] we were missing touches,” Andonovski said. “We were missing consistent trainings, consistent games and once we get that with the league or once the players get that in their markets, everything is going to be better. We see what it means for most if not all, but especially for Alex, who I thought has been extraordinary in the first five, six games in the league and in the Challenge Cup.”

Andonovski will use this tournament as his final opportunity to test players before selecting the 18-player roster for the Tokyo Olympics.

Twenty-three players were called up to the camp. Midfielder Julie Ertz and winger Tobin Heath are also in close contention for spots on the roster — Ertz is rehabbing an injury incurred in the NWSL while Heath is training with the team in Texas while recovering from an injury suffered during the Manchester United season.

The coach said he hopes players’ performances this week will “make his job even harder” in this selection process. With only three games left to earn a spot on the Olympic roster, the stakes of this week are even higher for players at every experience level.

“I don’t think it ever changes,” midfielder Lindsey Horan said. “Coming into camps with the women’s national team, it’s always tense, it’s always a lot of pressure and it’s always uncomfortable. I think that’s why this national team is so good and that’s why the competition is so high.”

The Americans are aiming to avenge their early exit from the 2016 Olympics this summer. This is the first Olympic tournament for Andonovski, who took over the helm of the team from Jill Ellis in 2019.

U.S. Soccer chose to host these three matches in Texas to replicate the smothering heat of Tokyo, which is expected to play a major factor in the Olympics. Andonovski said the summer heat will be key for the Americans to hone their intense high-flying style of attack.

“It is brutal,” Andonovski said. “It’s hot, it’s humid. It’s hard. And we’re going to test a lot of things, obviously, from a tactical standpoint. We’re going to test to see what is the speed that we can move in, what’s the speed of play, how sustainable is the high press and what’s the period of time that we can sustain that. So a lot of things that we’re gonna test as a team. ... Hopefully after these three games, we will have enough time to adjust if we need to adjust something.”

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Julia Poe at jpoe@orlandosentinel.com.