Orlando Pride have been struck with awful news amidst the ongoing National Women’s Soccer League season. The club announced that star striker Alex Morgan will miss the remainder of the campaign after picking up a knee injury.
The 30-year-old, who played a crucial part in her nations recent 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup success, suffered a patella stress reaction in her right knee. This stress fracture has is a result of a previous knock she picked up while on international duty with the USWNT.
The two-time World Cup winner took to social media to update her fans on her fitness after this information became public. She spoke of the highs she enjoyed this year – lifting the 2019 Women’s World Cup title – but confessed that her inability to complete the remainder of the 2019 season is heartbreaking.
"This year has had the highest of highs but along with that comes challenges and sometimes even falling short of my goals I set for myself in 2019,” Morgan wrote.
“I’m disappointed I won’t be able to compete with the Pride for the remainder of 2019 due to a knee injury I’ve been managing since the World Cup, and that I can’t be there to help my teammates and my club have more success. Thank you fans, friends, teammates, and teams for all your support. I have already started physical therapy in LA and am eager to get back on the field doing what I love."
Orlando Pride General Manager Erik Ustruck admitted that this loss is a huge one for a club that has been struggling this season. He said: “It’s obviously difficult to lose a player of Alex’s caliber due to injury.
“However, after consulting with the Club’s medical team at Orlando Health and U.S. Soccer, we felt it was in the best interest of Alex’s long-term health to shut her down for the season to focus on the rehabilitation process and take the appropriate time to recover from the lingering knee injury.”
Orlando Pride are bottom in the standings with only 14 points from 21 games, suffering a whopping 14 defeats while winning only four times. They must now do without the clinical attacker who won the Silver Boot at France 2019.
The USWNT ace scored six goals in total as her nation successfully defended their World Cup campaign, netting five in a single game against Thailand to set a record. As a result, she is now a finalist for The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award, alongside fellow Stars and Stripes superstar Megan Rapinoe.
