Alex Morgan 'happy just ignoring' USWNT criticism, says taking it easy on Thailand is 'disrespectful'
Alex Morgan joined in speaking out against he criticism the United States national women’s soccer team is facing after a 13-0 shellacking of Thailand in the Women’s World Cup opener Tuesday.
Morgan, who tied a tournament record with five goals, told ESPN the following day it would have been “disrespectful” if the U.S. hadn’t given it’s all throughout the game.
Morgan defends goals, celebrations
In an interview with ESPN on Wednesday, Morgan said it was a “great team” and “statement performance” after “waiting impatiently” as the final teams to play in the group stage.
The U.S. erupted in the second half of a 3-0 game to score 10 more and drew criticism from fans even though the first tiebreaker to get out of the group stage is goals scored.
The striker told ESPN she was “happy just ignoring those comments.”
"I think it's disrespectful if we don't show up and give our best and play our game for 90 minutes. It's disrespectful to the Thai team. And I believe they wanted us to play them straight up.”
The team was also criticized for celebrating each goal, including the first-ever World Cup goals by Mallory Pugh, Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan and Sam Mewis. Lavelle and Mewis scored two each. Canadian broadcasters called it “disgusting” and former goalkeeper Hope Solo penned an column for The Guardian calling it “overboard.”
Morgan told ESPN:
"And for the celebrations, these are goals we have dreamt of our entire life. I mean, I'm going to celebrate Mal Pugh's goal. I'm going to celebrate Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle. This is their first World Cup and I'm so proud of them. And I couldn't have dreamt of scoring five goals in a World Cup. So it's incredible for us all.”
Morgan was seen going to speak with the Thailand goalkeeper after the match and walking off the pitch with her..
USWNT doesn’t apologize for record goals
U.S. coach Jill Ellis put it simply in the post-match news conference when talking about running up the score: “This is a world championship.”
Megan Rapinoe defended her goal celebration on FOX Sports afterward and called it an “explosion of joy.” Former USWNT players have spoken out in support of the deluge, including retired superstar Abby Wambach.
Morgan was asked by ESPN at the end of the interview if she felt “damned if you do” score double-digit goals and “damned if you don’t” score enough as the team “should have.” Her answer drove home the constant criticism USWNT faces.
“I feel more than damned if we do or damned if we don’t within this team,” she said. “It’s like what we say, what we don’t say. What we stand for, what we don’t stand for. What we do, what we don’t do. You can never have everyone love you so that’s what it is.”
Morgan was referencing the team’s ongoing fight for equal pay and, among other instances, voicing individual choices to not visit the White House given another title.
What’s next for the USWNT?
The U.S. leads Group F in goal differential after its seventh win in a row. They’ve scored 30 unanswered goals in the last five matches.
Sweden is second in Group F with a 2-0 win against Chile.
The U.S. will face Chile in Paris on Sunday and the No. 1 team in the world is again expected to be victorious. Morgan told ESPN they will have to “close up this chapter” and start anew for the next match.
“As much as last night was a dream for me, one that I couldn’t have even imagined, we move forward,” Morgan said. “And it was only one game of seven so we have a long way to go to get to the final.”
France, a threat to the Americans’ repeat, also started out well in Group A.
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