Alex Morgan: USWNT star set for a goal-filled year

Alex Morgan led the way for the United States Women’s National Team scoring a brace against Mexico on Thursday night. Is she now set for a goal-filled year?

The USWNT continued their winning ways in 2018 with a 4-1 win over Mexico in an international friendly. It was a fine performance in their first game back since winning the SheBelieves Cup in March. Predictably, it was Alex Morgan who was their inspiration for their success.

Morgan scored two second-half goals, one from the penalty spot and the other from a well-placed shot that was the arguably the goal of the match.

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The penalty was not only scored by Morgan, but the forward also drew the spot-kick using her speed to take advantage of a quick throw-in, outpacing the Mexican defender. Surprisingly, this was Morgan’s first goal for the USWNT from the spot.

Much like her first goal, Morgan was able to use her quick pace to get in behind the Mexican defense and dispatch the through-ball from Lindsey Horan to grab her second goal. It was her 83rd career international goal, moving up to seventh all-time in USWNT goal scoring.

Morgan was involved in the first goal of the match as well. The striker sent a pass to Megan Rapinoe, who laid it off to Mallory Pugh for the finish, which was the forward’s second international goal of the year. This was all about Alex Morgan.

Carli Lloyd scored the fourth goal of the match with Horan getting her second assist of the night. This was Lloyd’s 99th career goal for the U.S, will she get no. 100 on Sunday?

In-form Morgan set for a goal-filled year?

In five matches for the U.S. in 2018, Morgan has scored three goals, continuing her impressive start to the year. Entering Thursday night’s match, she had scored eight goals in her last 11 appearances for the Stars and Stripes. Leaving the match, her tally now stands at 10 in her last 12.

With another match against Mexico on Sunday, Morgan will have another opportunity to add to her goal total for the year. Her best season to date came in 2016 when she scored 17 goals in 21 appearances. Although she may not get 21 appearances to do so this year, she can still leave 2018 with strong goal-scoring confidence headed into 2019, which of course is a World Cup year.

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The U.S. has shown no signs of slowing offensively thus far and should continue to roll as the year progresses. Morgan has the support she needs to get even more goals with Horan and Megan Rapinoe showed great cohesiveness in the final third with the forward. This could be a remarkable season for a remarkable player.