Alex Morgan

It seems to happen every time the U.S. women’s national team plays in a major tournament. Fans flock to stores online and in person seeking USWNT merch. Almost without fail, Nike, the U.S. Soccer Federation and other outlets quickly run out of stock, never learning from past mistakes to properly prepare for spikes in demand.

No more.

The USWNT Players Association launched its own line of USWNT merch on Thursday, taking full advantage of bargaining for their name, image and likeness rights in 2017. 

Alex Morgan scored her first two international goals of the year and the U.S. women's national team took the first step toward World Cup and Olympic qualifying with a 3-0 win against Haiti in San Nicolás, Mexico, on Monday.

Morgan scored in the 16th and 23rd minutes and Midge Purce added a goal in the 84th minute as the Americans improved to 8-0-0 vs. Haiti.

USWNT vs. Haiti Extended Highlights (07/04/2022) 

After all she’s been through, some might expect Alex Morgan to be slowing down at this point in her career. A two-time World Cup winner and an Olympic gold medalist, Morgan gave birth to her first child in 2020 and at the age of 32 moved to a new club in a new city to be the face of the expansion club San Diego Wave.

Instead of taking it easy a couple of weeks from her 33rd birthday, Morgan is hitting a new gear.

With Women’s World Cup qualifying three weeks away, USWNT players are peaking at the right time. Alex Morgan is unstoppable, Sophia Smith and Mal Pugh are lighting up the scoreboards and Rose Lavelle is literally flying.

A highly anticipated meeting between league-leading San Diego Wave and perennial NWSL Championship contender OL Reign delivered on Sunday afternoon at Torero Stadium in SoCal. 

The home crowd was on its feet in the eighth-minute as Alex Morgan got on the end of goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan's long ball forward before cooly collecting her ninth goal of the season in just nine appearances.

The 2022 Concacaf W Championship is just 26 days away, so USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski has to be close to knowing the final 23-player squad he'll name for the tournament in Mexico — which serves as qualifying for both the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympic Games.

But he's not showing his hand yet.

On Monday, Concacaf revealed the provisional rosters for the W Championship, so while the final 23 will have to be selected from this list, the provisional roster for the USWNT includes an all-encompassing 59 names.

The San Diego Wave twice came from a goal down thanks to an Alex Morgan brace, including a 90th-minute equalizer, to snatch a 2-2 draw with Kansas City on Saturday to stay atop the early NWSL standings with 13 points from seven games.

The Wave is undefeated at home (2-0), but they've been exceptionally good on the road for an expansion side (2-2-1). They just wouldn't quit on Sunday at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City.

Kristen Hamilton had given the Current the lead in the 11th-minute, but Morgan brought the Wave level from the spot in the 37th.

After fielding the oldest squad at both the 2019 World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics, a changing of the guard was inevitable for the USWNT ahead of building toward the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Carli Lloyd, the team's most capped player and leading scorer, retired last year, but is Alex Morgan still on the USWNT?

Morgan is now the team's leading active goalscorer with 115 in 190 appearances (0.61 per game), and the 32-year-old figures to play a huge role at both this summer's Concacaf W Championship in Mexico and next summer's World Cup.

To say 2021 was a bad year for women’s soccer in the U.S. would be an understatement of epic proportions. In October, The Athletic detailed horrifying allegations of verbal abuse and sexual coercion by N.C. Courage coach Paul Riley, sending shockwaves through the NWSL.