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USWNT Notes: Alex Morgan progressing; Morgan Brian ‘pivotal’; and more

Alex Morgan bench by Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Photo by Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports

By CAITLIN MURRAY

After a repeat ankle sprain during October’s World Cup qualifiers, Alex Morgan is almost all the way back to top form. Speaking to reporters via conference call on Monday, U.S. Women’s National Team coach Jill Ellis said Morgan is nearly back to her pre-injury best.

“Alex needs more time on the final piece, which is finishing,” Ellis said. “We’ve spent a lot of time on technical work with her, because she has been off the field for quite a while. She’s coming along great. We’re very excited with where she is.”

Morgan had suffered a left ankle sprain in October in a 5-0 win over Guatemala during World Cup qualifying. After a physical challenge, she had to be stretchered off in the 38th minute, but scans showed no damage beyond the apparent strain.

The injury was particularly worrisome because it afflicted the same ankle that sidelined her for seven months last year. But it has healed up well and Morgan made steady progress in the USWNT’s three-week camp, which ended over the weekend.

“In this camp, I think she is just truly happy to be back out on the field and playing in non-contact and playing in 11-a-side,” Ellis said. “We did a lot of playing in 11-a-side environments out there and she got a lot of minutes, so we’re really happy.”

Here are the other bits of news from Monday’s U.S. Soccer conference call:

THE WOMEN’S GAME IS EVOLVING, USWNT NEEDS TO EVOLVE TOO

While many reporters wanted to ask about goalkeeper Hope Solo and her backup goalkeepers, the focus of Monday’s call was to talk about player development — and Ellis made it clear the USWNT can’t lose sight of making progress.

“The expectation is always to be top team in the world, but for me it’s really about how quickly we can implement this,” Ellis said, referring to the team’s evolution and focus on strategic youth development. “I think bringing younger players in that have had preparation with the youth teams, that have a similar kind of philosophy and similar ideal, certainly helps. Morgan Brian has come through our youth teams. For us, it’s really about how quickly we can get this team up to speed.”

While U.S. Soccer is now ramping up efforts to spot and develop talent at the youth level ahead of the Women’s World Cup and Olympics, it’s always been a long-term process. But that doesn’t mean youth team performances can predict how the senior USWNT will do — there’s no trend there, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said.

“The long-term trend is that there are a lot more federations spending time, money and resources on their women’s programs,” Gulati said. “That’s a positive thing. But, achieving the sorts of results of winning every time just isn’t practical.”

U.S. Soccer is expanding its scouting operations to find talent, adding more technical development components to its youth programs and has added staff to oversee development and goalkeeping at the youth level.

As more federations devote more of their resources on women’s teams, the competition between the USWNT and the rest of the world gets tighter — and the U.S. can’t get left behind, Ellis said.

“For us to continue to compete for world championships and Olympic medals, we have to continue to evolve,” Ellis said. “The players, when I first met with them, I put up the quote: ‘If we sit where we are, we’ll get run over.’ I think our evolution and development is on a rapid course.”

JILL ELLIS: YOUNG MORGAN BRIAN IS “VERY IMPORTANT” TO USWNT

Morgan Brian, 21, may be the youngest player on the USWNT — she hasn’t yet graduated from college — but she is likely going to the Women’s World Cup this summer. On a team that is full of World Cup veterans, Brian has stood out, Ellis said.

“She’s been very, very important. Morgan is a part of this younger generation coming in,” Ellis said. “She’s adapted very quickly, she’s got a wonderful skill set, she’s a very mature young lady and I see her as a pivotal part of our team moving forward.”

Brian earned her first cap in June 2013 against South Korea and in her second cap, three months later, she scored just minutes after being subbed into a 7-0 blowout against Mexico. Now, with 19 caps and three goals for the USWNT, she appears to be a key piece for the future.

“She’s technically very refined, which made the transition easier for her — a technical base is obviously so important for our younger players,” Ellis added. “Morgan, she’s been very composed on the field, very mature off the field and obviously has a high soccer IQ, so we’re very excited about her. She’s been playing in the central midfielder role alongside Lauren (Holiday) and she’s done very, very well.”

NWSL EXPLORED AS WAY TO AID DEVELOPMENT OF COLLEGE PLAYERS

American college soccer is somewhat of an anomaly compared to the rest of the world. While top, college-aged soccer players in Europe are training with elite academies and going professional, many Americans — especially on the women’s side — are developed almost exclusively with their school teams.

That presents a conundrum for U.S. Soccer, which wants college-aged players to have more development opportunities. But the National Women’s Soccer League may be able to help, Gulati said.

“On the girl’s side, college soccer is going to absolutely continue to be a very important piece of development. Over the last 25 years, I can name only one top player who has chosen to opt out of college initially and play professional soccer,” Gulati said, referring to Lindsey Horan, who skipped college to play professionally with Paris Saint-Germain in France.

U.S. Soccer founded the NWSL in 2013 in partnership with the Canadian and Mexican soccer federations. Almost all USWNT players call the league home.

“How do we supplement the program and how do we make it better in the offseason?,” Gulati said of the college soccer schedule. “That’s what we’re looking at to do a summer model that might be coordinated with the NWSL in multiple markets across the country. We’re actually looking at a similar model on the men’s side.”

SUNIL GULATI: WORLD CUP NOT NEEDED FOR USWNT TO BE THE BEST

In recent years, the USWNT has been a dominate force in women’s soccer, holding No. 1 FIFA world ranking for nearly seven years until last month and winning four of the last five Olympic Games. But the team hasn’t won a World Cup since 1999, something Gulati said doesn’t take away from the team’s world standing.

“On the women’s side, where the Olympics and the World Cup feature exactly the same eligibility for teams, it’s a little different than the men’s side,” Gulati said. “I’m not sure having one penalty kick go in against us and not winning the Olympic gold medal in London would completely change our valuation of the program. It wouldn’t.”

Gulati, of course, was referring to the USWNT losing to Japan in the 2011 World Cup final. The Americans got a rematch one year later at the 2012 Olympics and won the gold medal, with a team that was almost entirely the same.

“Clearly, it’s been a long time since we won a Women’s World Cup,” Gulati continued. “In that period since, we’ve won multiple Olympic gold medals playing against the same teams and playing with the same set of players.”

“Yes, winning the World Cup would be very important, but we still think we are, in fact, the best women’s program in the world, whether it’s ranked No. 1 or No. 2. Across the board, from top to bottom in terms of our national youth team program, I think all countries around the world still look to us for leadership in that area.”

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What do you think of these conference call notes? Glad that Alex Morgan is back? Do you think that Morgan Brian is the future of the team? What do you think of U.S. Soccer’s emphasis on youth development?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Funny how Jill says that our “evolution and development are on a rapid course” while at the same time having a 39 year old captain and by continually playing Abby Wambach (34) when it is clear that she no longer is our best option up top. Most of the current team was recruited by Pia Sundgage for the 2008 Olympics so perhaps Jill needs look up the words “evolution”, “development” and “rapid” because I don’t think those words mean what she thinks they do.

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  2. USSF/Ellis had to say something publicly re:Solo, so coupling it with some development news (however sketchy) was a good tack.

    Brian is a good indication of what our youth is capable of, to expand opportunities beyond her is what it sounds like Gulati is pushing for.

    Gulati saying US is still best in the world with or without WC win is just him managing expectations. Saying that the US has to do some new things developmentally shows that he recognizes the changing landscape and our tenuous position in it.

    Not all NWSL teams have a W League or WPSL team affiliated with them, if that’s what they’re suggesting I think it’s a must do. So far it seems to be the only way college players can continue to progress. I am not a fan of the academy system, so to me this is a good path.

    All that said, I think we’re a day late and a dollar short on making these changes. I still think a whole class of players will be stepped over to advance the fortune of the senior team, a shame, but unfortunately the situation the program has put itself in.

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  3. Thank you for the information. Do you think this telephone conference was USSF’s release of the “specific plans for WNT programming” described in its Dec 8, 2014 press release for MNT program initiatives? Any specifics on the “what” actually provided in the call concerning WNT programming?

    My takeaway from your notes re programming is that USSF knows it must evolve and acknowledges other countries have committed more resources and are making strides, but still has no specifics on the US programming initiatives.

    Gulati reassures that our program is still the best. That statement is not measurable. It’s also not consistent with any current objective standard. Gulati also says YNT performance is not a predictor of senior WNT performance (let’s hope not, since the YNT’s bombed out of competitions and none of the ussf coaches were even removed for the poor showing…)…

    Is the only proposal coming out of this call to consider formalizing what some college players already do on their own- join W-league teams affiliated w NWSL clubs, eg, the Washington Spirit’s W-league team? NCAA ain’t gonna favor any semi-pro status….

    Yikes.

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  4. Great summery…lots of new stuff. Wasnt really interested in the Solo (get back to me in 30 days).
    -Morgan …nice to here
    -New ideas on developing….yes, a huge gap is opened up because more countries professionally develop younger players with most entering pro leagues while teens. Good thinking here.
    -Nice to here some positives comments on Brian from Ellis who spent the first half of her tenure trying to undermine the girl’s career in favor practically anyone else on the team who could kick a ball. If she had simply continued Brians development when she took over Brian would likely be a regular starter by now. Instead we have endless musical #10 with puzzling results.
    – Nice to see they r looking into evolving team. I believe that job previously belonged to Heinrichs and Ellis who have brought them to the current need to evolve the team five years later. Not sure why anyone would trust them to do the job that they have obviously failed to do up to this point. I wouldnt. A new development strategy should start with new leadership.
    – Gulati has gone from winning the WC is the only acceptable result to hey, u know the Olympics r pretty important too???? This is mind boggling. If trying to win the WC isnt important to Gulati he needs to go back to teaching. Bring in someone who is more interested in results than spin. Bring in a coach who will mold the team instead of one who wants to just get along.

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