USWNT star Alex Morgan ready to make impact on, off field

After Alex Morgan scored her first international goal in 19 months, the U.S. women’s national team star said her comeback is almost complete.

The striker knows it’s been a long time since her last goal — more than 500 days spanning a pregnancy and a pandemic.

Morgan scored the Americans’ fifth goal against Argentina on Wednesday night, helping the team clinch the SheBelieves Cup title. The goal bolstered the striker’s confidence ahead of the NWSL Challenge Cup and the Tokyo Olympics.

“I still don’t feel like I’m 100%,” Morgan said. “I feel like I’m 99 1/8%3/8 or so. I’m getting there. My timing needs to get better. My instincts need to get better. ... I feel good, but I feel like I still have some building blocks to go.”

Morgan said team training with the Orlando Pride will be the key to returning to full speed. The striker said she’s been unable to log a full month of continuous training with the same team since before her pregnancy.

She said consistency with her club team will give her the final push to regain her previous form.

“I’m happy to stay here and start the season and go through the Challenge Cup,” Morgan said.

Returning to the NWSL will also offer Morgan an opportunity to contribute to league-wide actions to support the Black community.

After returning from pregnancy and playing abroad in England, Morgan said she felt isolated “in a little bubble” as waves of protest and anti-racism activism surged across the country throughout the past year.

Now that she’s back into action with the national team, Morgan said she also wants to support her Black teammates off the pitch.

“We have been in communication with the Black Women’s Players Collective every camp,” Morgan said. “Lynn [Williams], Crystal [Dunn] and Midge [Purce] have been huge leaders for the collective and I’ve kind of looked at them. ... I think this league is extremely supportive of that and wants to continue to be an ally and wants to continue to raise awareness for these social injustices. As much as I can, I’m just here to listen and to understand and to be as supportive as I possibly can with them.”

Morgan said she aims to continue that advocacy at the NWSL level.

However, she said the first week of preseason before the SheBelieves Cup didn’t offer enough time for conversations.

“To be quite honest, I haven’t been able to get in enough to feel like we can have a true impact in the Orlando community,” Morgan said.

This season, Morgan said she expects to engage more with the Black Women’s Player Collective and other NWSL initiatives.

That effort will start when she returns to the Pride in the weeks leading up to the Challenge Cup.

“[It’s important] to have these really great conversations within the team each camp to be able to sort of support the Black players, but also for just the NWSL players to be able to use their platform for something much bigger and much greater than what we’re able to do on the field,” Morgan said. “Honestly, I want to dig in and be an ally as much as I can. ... Now that I’m back full stride with the team, I’m looking forward to continuing these conversations and being a part of the bigger change that we’ve seen within not only the NWSL but women’s leagues around the U.S.”

On the pitch, the SheBelieves Cup offered Morgan her toughest competition since returning to play.

Morgan played the longest against Brazil on Sunday, clocking more than 70 minutes against the Brazilians high-speed attack.

“I feel like I’m getting my legs underneath me,” Morgan said. “I felt like at times I was trying to catch my breath, but looking at the numbers, you know, I had a lot of running in that game and I was happy with the way that I’ve progressed.”

Coach Vlatko Andonovski said he noted daily progress in Morgan, both in training sessions and during matches.

Both player and coach feel Morgan is on the right track after playing three games in seven days.

“I’m glad I got some time to get significant minutes in this tournament, get my first goal in over a year and a half,” Morgan said. “I’m pretty happy overall. It’s just nice to be back in the mix.”

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