Back in August, Juan Mata used The Players’ Tribune to announce his commitment to Common Goal, a collective fund that supports football charities around the globe. Mata’s pledge was to donate 1% of his salary to the NGO streetfootballworld.
At least the U.S. still has one national team that can kick ass. The USWNT stars came out to shine in a 3-1 victory over South Korea on Thursday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe all found the back of the net in a comfortable win over the 15th-ranked team in the world.
While the USMNT won’t make the Men’s World Cup next summer, the reigning Women’s World Cup champions are still going strong, winning their fifth straight and moving to 10-3 in 2017.
Earlier this month USWNT and Orlando City striker Alex Morgan was kicked out of Disney World after an incident at Epcot, resulting in Morgan being warned for trespassing.
The plot thickened as police body camera footage of officers questioning Morgan, who disagreed with police about the night's events.
Google AMP users can view the video here.
TMZ Sports reported Tuesday that USWNT and Orlando Pride striker Alex Morgan was part of a group asked to leave Disney World after an incident at a bar in the Epcot Center. According to TMZ, witnesses said there was a confrontation between members of Morgan's party and another party at a pub in the U.K. section of Epcot. Police were called, and several members of Morgan's group were reportedly asked to leave.
I have always wanted to shoot sports, and yet in my 12 or 13 years of being behind the camera I’ve never had the opportunity. So, when I heard that the US women’s team was going to play a friendly against New Zealand in Denver, I jumped at the chance to cover it for The18. And the experience was everything I thought it would be, and then some.
The USWNT steamrolled New Zealand 5-0 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati last night in front of an announced crowd of 30,596. Goals from Lindsey Horan, Mallory Pugh, Lynn Williams and a brace for Alex Morgan saw the States claim their second victory over the Kiwis in the space of five days following their 3-1 win in Commerce City, Colorado last Friday.
Alex Morgan returned to action with the Orlando Pride on July 1, and she’s struck up a lethal partnership with Brazilian legend Marta since. In seven games, Morgan has scored five goals and provided two assists, but the duo was on another level Saturday after leading the Pride to a 5-0 victory over Sky Blue.
Both Morgan and Marta registered two goals and an assist on the day, with Morgan’s feed for Marta earning NWSL Week 16 Goal of the Week honors. The assist that Marta provided for Morgan was pretty special as well.
The U.S. women faced off against Japan on Thursday in their last game of the Tournament of Nations. Japan-U.S. has become a particularly heated affair in recent years with the two meeting in three of the last four major finals. USWNT fans will not easily forget the heartbreaking loss to the Japanese at the 2011 FIFA World Cup nor Carli Lloyd’s rampage to win the trophy four years later.
Alex Morgan undoubtedly has a special relationship with the soccer ball. Her ability to fire shots in the back of the net over the years is clear proof of that fact. However, this goal from last spring shows just the kind of mesmerizing soccer sorcery the forward is capable of.