It's not easy making a decision that
there's only 16 outfield players and two goalkeepers on a
roster of 18.
So it was a tough decision,
of course, especially consider considering
Alex's history and record with this team.
But I felt that, you know,
I wanted to to go in another direction and selected
other players.
After Alex Morgan was left off the 18 player Olympic
roster for the United States Women's National Team,
she took to social media saying today,
I'm disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our
country on the Olympic stage.
This will always be a tournament that is close to
my heart and I take immense pride anytime I put
on the Crest in less than a month.
I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them
on alongside the rest of our country.
A big way to show her maturity and veteran ability
without being on this roster.
US Men's National Team forward and US Soccer Hall of
Famer Landon Donovan joined Collazo Network on Thursday and was
asked about Morgan's omission,
referencing his own experience in 2014 being left off the
World Cup roster.
Take a listen. Yeah, I'm devastated for Alex,
having played through the years
parallel as she's been playing and watching her career.
It's a horrible moment and
I don't wish it on anybody.
It is not enjoyable to have to deal with that.
It's the unfortunate part of this business that happens to
all of us at some point.
But I'm mostly just, you know,
I sympathize with Alex and
I hope it doesn't define the rest of her season
and that
she can make peace with it at some point.
Certainly not going to be soon because these things are
difficult to deal with.
But my heart goes out to her.
For more on the United States Women's National Team roster,
we are so pleased to welcome in Good Friend of
the show Sandra Herrera to chat more about this.
Sandra, it was a really big decision for Emma Hayes
to omit Alex Morgan from this roster.
But what does it tell you about the way that
Hayes wants to run this team?
She wants to get on the ground running.
I think everything that she sort of has spoken about
since her arrival stateside
is kind of already alluded to that.
And I think this final Olympic roster is really just
the actual landing point.
I think there's been hints along the way,
but sometimes you don't really know until you know.
And I think we all know now that the Emma
Hayes era is actually truly in effect.
Look, that I'm sure wasn't an easy call to make.
But that's also part of why US Soccer hired Emma
Hayes,
you know, to kind of put her in this position.
They wanted to have someone
who would make those difficult calls and have those difficult
conversations.
And it's it's evident, you know,
sure, we can go on about the soccer reasons,
right, Why Alex Morgan isn't going to the Olympics.
This has not been a
2024 that has been particularly
productive for her, despite having some good moments during that
Gold Cup in the February.
But navigating an injury, not pulling up buffer for club
in front of goal,
these are all factors that that led to to this
moment.
And maybe in a different coach in a different era
might bring an Alex Morgan caliber type of player for
marquee reasons.
But in this new era,
it's it looks and feels
very, very different. So despite those soccer reasons,
we have to talk about it because it is so
massive because of the player and whom Alex Morgan is.
So the fact that we're here saying like,
yes, does it is it?
Is there logic behind not bringing Alex Morgan?
Of course, but that also means that there's a bit
of a turning of of of a page here,
the changing of the guard as we've all been talking
about.
And because of that, we're all speaking about it in
that aspect that Alex Morgan is,
is someone in a very specific time in her career.
She's 34 as far as a cycle.
The next one is going to be 4 years away
for a World Cup and an Olympics back-to-back.
This was maybe going to possibly be a swan song
for her,
but this is not going to be the case moving
forward.
So, you know, in talking about this throughout the week,
it's almost, I think as if a lot of folks
in the media or even,
you know, fans who find themselves as casual fans of
this team online and in other spaces,
you know, kind of acknowledging that that that this is
this.
While this may be the right call that it's still,
it's still a tough one to see because again,
this is going to be the first major international tournament
that Morgan hasn't been a part of since
2008.