How to defend against Alex Morgan, according to opponents

Dinnia Díaz was enjoying a sport throughout the sport, a thoughts trick acquainted to anybody who has labored a shift at a job that is not all that enjoyable. When it was sluggish, she’d steal a look on the clock, then attempt, attempt, attempt to let extra time move earlier than she appeared once more.

A longtime goalkeeper for the Costa Rica nationwide group, Díaz hardly ever feared opposing attackers or tried to rely the minutes till the ultimate whistle blew. It was totally different when she was going through Alex Morgan.

“Sometimes you’re thinking, ‘How much time is left? Can Alex still score on me?'” Díaz stated.

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Once, in a 2016 pleasant match, Díaz did handle to hold Morgan scoreless, although she did concede a purpose assisted by Morgan. Another time, in Olympic qualification in 2016, Morgan scored practically from kickoff and located a second purpose within the 62nd minute.

“It was really meaningful because you want that such an extraordinary player with such a great career doesn’t score on you. As a goalkeeper, that means a lot,” Díaz stated.

Playing worldwide soccer is a pleasure, and the Women’s World Cup (which kicked off Thursday) guarantees to be a monthlong expression of that positivity. But doing it against Alex Morgan can flip any day into a really tough day on the workplace.

Morgan and U.S. followers hope a brand new group of gamers have their days ruined on the Women’s World Cup, which the Americans open Friday evening (U.S. time) against Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand. But quite a few gamers in Concacaf and past are well-acquainted with that wait, the fast glances on the clock and the sense of dread that ultimately, she’s going to discover a method to rating.

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Alex Morgan heads into this World Cup with 121 objectives in 207 International appearances, placing her above a mean of 1 purpose each different sport. She additionally has chipped in 49 assists. The résumé is well-known: a pair of World Cup winners’ medals, a gold medalist and somebody basically inconceivable to cease.

Not that groups do not nonetheless have to attempt. In the opening match of the Concacaf W Championship final summer time, the Haiti nationwide group puzzled if it would get a reprieve and see Morgan rested forward of extra daunting video games later within the event. Instead, she began and scored twice within the opening 23 minutes because the U.S. wrapped up a 3-0 win.

“OK, we really have to turn it on right now,” Haiti center-back Claire Constant remembers saying to her teammates after seeing Morgan would begin. “There was no specific ‘Defending Alex Morgan’ training we were doing, but we were obviously aware of her talents.”

While different gamers would possibly take small breaks through the sport, Constant says Morgan “never turns off.”

“You have to keep an eye on her for literally all 90 minutes. Her movement off the ball, whether she’s checking into the seams or making runs into the box, is very, very hard to defend,” Constant stated. “She’s always making quick little movements and makes selfless runs for her teammates.”

Diaz stated that displays itself in Morgan’s positioning. She could possibly be in the precise spot for a tap-in, or she would possibly shake off her defender to get alone on the high of the field. Since you by no means know, you are all the time counting these minutes.

“She adapts to any style of play and always makes things tough for opponents. She can pop up in different areas of the field, always is well-located, and makes goalkeepers and the whole defensive line think,” Díaz stated.

Bianca Henninger had to chuckle when she noticed ESPN’s request to communicate together with her for this story. “I mean, sure. Do you want me to talk about how she annihilated every team I was ever on?” she quipped.

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Now within the Angel City FC entrance workplace, Henninger was a long-time NWSL shot-stopper who additionally suited up for Bayern Munich and the Melbourne Victory. A California native, she represented the Mexico nationwide group and due to this fact had quite a few showdowns with Morgan on the worldwide degree.

There was the Women’s World Cup qualifier in 2018 through which Morgan scored twice within the second half, placing the bow on a 6-0 victory Mexico thought it might win at halftime, trailing by only one. There was the penalty in Jacksonville in a pleasant, when Henninger stated, “I knew where she was going to shoot. I guessed the right way, and it was fingertips away. That’s the level of execution she brings to the table.”

Even instances when Henninger had the higher hand, she stated the best-drawn sport plans would come undone. “Good players like her find ways around the game plan,” she stated. “And, if they don’t, they’re pulling a ton of resources away from the stuff you’re trying to do in regular soccer games.”

Constant agrees. The U.S.-born defender and Virginia product grew up watching Morgan and solely watched her extra rigorously when she noticed the draw for the Concacaf W Championship, realizing she’d be tasked with shutting her down. The outcomes of the examine within the video room left her little to work with.

“It’s very hard to defend someone with that much determination. When I’m going up against someone, I’ll watch film and then on the field I’ll look for what their weak spots are,” stated the Haiti defender, who will miss the World Cup due to an ACL harm suffered simply earlier than the event. “For me, Alex doesn’t have any weak spots or she does a very good job of hiding them.

“You’re by no means snug on the sector when she’s on the sector together with her.”

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Players from the Concacaf region are sending a warning to Morgan’s World Cup opponents: One moment of letting your concentration slip, one time a defender isn’t able to execute the game plan, and it may mean picking the ball out of your net and shaking your head. Alex Morgan scores. Again.

“You all the time put together not to concede however doing it against a participant with that model of play that is so pure and the place she will be able to change a sport from wherever. You’ve received to listen,” Díaz stated.

The video games would possibly solely final 90 minutes, however whenever you hold stealing peeks on the clock whereas making an attempt to discover Morgan across the field, it will probably really feel for much longer.