{"id":406923,"date":"2024-06-27T12:28:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T12:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=406923"},"modified":"2024-06-27T13:06:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T13:06:19","slug":"outrage-as-us-football-icon-snubbed-for-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=406923","title":{"rendered":"Outrage as US football icon snubbed for Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

American football fans have been sent into a spin with the announcement of the United States Women's National Team's (USWNT) squad for the upcoming Olympic Games<\/a> delivering several controversial calls.<\/p>\n

To the surprise of many, the \ufeff18-woman squad announced on Thursday did not include mainstay Alex Morgan, among several other notable absentees.<\/p>\n

With 224 appearances under her belt for the USWNT, including three Olympic<\/a> campaigns, Morgan requires no introduction when it comes to the biggest stage.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

But with the 34-year-old \ufeffunder an injury cloud after suffering an ankle injury in April and blowback from a recent goal drought with the San Diego Waves, incoming coach Emma Hayes has initiated a new era for the team.<\/p>\n

Other players to receive the chop also include\ufeff Adrianna Franch, Abby Dahlkemper, ex-captain Becky Sauerbrunn and Australian superstar Sam Kerr<\/a>'s fianc\u00e9e Kristie Mewis.<\/p>\n

While Mewis was never a \ufeffcertainty to make the squad after a difficult 2023-24 season upon joining Women's Super League club West Ham from National Women's Soccer League side Gotham FC, the news will still come as a blow with Kerr also missing the tournament<\/a> after rupturing her ACL earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Morgan helped the USA win gold at London 2012 \u2014 a goal in the 123rd minute of the side's semi-final win over Canada a standout of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Morgan is also the USNWT's leading goal scorer amongst the crop of active and available players with 123 goals for her country.<\/p>\n

However, Hayes has instead \ufeffopted for a new-look forward group including Trinity Rodman, Jaedyn Shaw, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson alongside Crystal Dunn as the team \ufefflooks to claim a fifth Olympic title \u2014 and their first since Morgan's debut Games.<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Morgan expressed her frustration at being omitted but did not rule out a return to the team in the future.<\/p>\n

"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 any time I put on the crest," said wrote on Thursday.<\/p>\n

"In less than a month, I look forward to supporting this team and cheering them on alongside the rest of our country."<\/p>\n

In response to her critics, Hayes described Morgan as an "amazing player and human" and acknowledged that picking the final squad had been difficult.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I've only had one opportunity to work with her [Morgan] in the last camp and I saw firsthand not just her qualities but her professionalism and her record speaks for itself," she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It's not easy making a decision when there're only 16 outfield players and two goalkeepers on a roster of 18, so it was a tough decision of course.<\/p>\n

"Especially considering Alex's history and record with this team, but I felt I wanted to go in another direction and selected other players.<\/p>\n

Hayes took over as head coach of the USWNT last month after finishing up her decorated 12-year stint with Chelsea in which she guided the club to six WSL titles and five Women's FA Cups.<\/p>\n

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 begin on July 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American football fans have been sent into a spin with the announcement of the United States Women's National Team's (USWNT) squad for the upcoming Olympic […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":406927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406933,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406923\/revisions\/406933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/406927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}