Alex Morgan was the face of the U.S. Women's National Team leading up to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. She appeared in advertisements, commercials on FOX, was "Simponized" and even went on American Idol to promote the international tournament.
But Morgan has yet to make a start in Canada and has played a total of just 23 minutes in the USA's first two games in group play at the World Cup.
Morgan, who has missed significant time over the last two years while dealing with injuries, is currently recovering from a lingering knee contusion. Heading into the World Cup, Morgan had not played a competitive match for either the U.S. or her club team, the Portland Thorns, in 49 days.
A month before the World Cup, U.S. Women's National Team coach Jill Ellis said that the team was just being careful with Morgan and that the injury wouldn't be a concern during the World Cup.
But, at the beginning of the World Cup, Ellis said that Morgan's playing time would be limited early in the tournament as the forward returned to full strength.
"In terms of Alex, we're building her," said Ellis, at the time. "Realistically, she's been off for a while. So in terms of minutes, that's something I think we're going to have to build through the early games to be ready. We don't want to blow her up too early in terms of physically being ready."
At this point, it is unclear when Morgan will be healthy enough to return to the starting lineup and remains to be seen whether she'll have the opportunity to be a difference maker for the U.S. in this World Cup.
-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com
503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg
