Three days after announcing her retirement from the game, American soccer icon Alex Morgan bid an emotional farewell in her final appearance with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.
Morgan, 35 years old, She is pregnant with her second child and announced it on Thursday That the Waves’ Sunday game against the North Carolina Courage would be the last of his football career.
Before the game, Morgan emerged from the tunnel at Snapdragon Stadium holding her daughter Charlie’s hand. She was greeted with a standing ovation from fans and signs in the stands reading “Thank you, Alex,” “Everyone is watching Morgan” and “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”
Morgan then shared hugs with her teammates before a pregame ceremony and was presented with a No. 63 jersey commemorating her 63 games with the Wave.
Morgan made her last brief appearance on the pitch as a player. With the match tied 1-1, she left the pitch in the 13th minute. She hugged her teammates again as the stands gave her a standing ovation. She then unlaced her boots and said goodbye to her supporters with tears in her eyes before leaving the pitch.
The moment marked the end of a tremendous career as a club and college player and star of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Morgan, an All-American high school player, was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, which honors Cal’s top college soccer player.
In 2013, she joined the Portland Thorns and helped lead them to the NWSL championship in the league’s inaugural season. She was traded to the Orlando Pride in 2017 and also played with European clubs Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur before joining the Wave in 2022. She played her final 63 professional games with San Diego.
She was a star of the U.S. women’s national team and helped lead her country to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019. She won Olympic gold with the U.S. women’s national team in 2012 in London and bronze in 2021 in Tokyo. She has earned 224 caps for the U.S. women’s national team and is the eighth-leading scorer of all time in international competition with 123 goals.
She was and remains a fierce advocate for equal opportunity and conditions in women’s sports and helped lead the fight for equal pay for members of both the USWNT and USMNT.
