Alex Morgan: ‘You learn so much more from losing than winning’

T he US have won the Women’s World Cup twice in a row – wresting it from Japan in 2015 before beating the Netherlands in the 2019 final. Should they prove victorious in Sydney on 20 August, they will be the first men’s or women’s team to win three consecutive World Cups.

But the road is treacherous. The word “unconvincing” floats perniciously around their preparations, at a time when women’s football has never been more competitive. Europe in particular is stronger than ever before.

Still, Alex Morgan, a veteran of USA’s two most recent World Cup winning teams, thinks they can pull it off. “I think that this team is the best we’ve ever had,” she says.

That’s not to say she doesn’t take the Americans’ rivals seriously. Asked to pick the teams she feels pose the biggest threat, she names England first: “I think the Euro champs, England, are definitely a team to be watching for,” says Morgan, who was speaking before a series of injuries hit the Lionesses.

The Lionesses and the Americans are no strangers on the big stage. The last time they met at the World Cup, it was the 2019 semi-final in Lyon. The US edged past England thanks to headed goals from Alex Morgan and Christen Press, and a penalty save from Alyssa Naeher. Their most recent meeting also ended 2-1, this time in England’s favor, in front of a record crowd at Wembley last October.

Morgan wasn’t at Wembley, but she has been watching England’s rise. And she believes the Lionesses’ success is thanks in part to work behind the scenes.

“I think they’ve definitely come a long way in the last couple of years, and I think that’s credit to a lot of things,” says the 33-year-old. “Number one, their domestic league, that has just gotten so much better and so much more