NWSL Snap: Alex Morgan to retire, and seven other thoughts

Note: Welcome to a slightly different 'NWSL Snap' – Instead of a Monday morning briefing, here are some things to make sure you don't miss that are coming up in the NWSL. There is still a team of the week at the bottom. 😉

Holiday note: A bit later than normal, the 'Bank Holiday Monday' of Labour Day and other Tuesday priorities thew me off. But there's plenty of great stuff coming this week!

NWSL Matchday 18 Results:

Portland 1-3 || Louisville 2-3 Seattle || Houston 1-3 Utah
NCC 2-1 KCC || ACFC 2-1 Chicago
Orlando 2-0 Gotham || San Diego 1-1 Wash. Spirit

Watch NWSL highlights here

Table (via FotMob):

Goodbye to a real one

On Thursday, at 8:00am on the Pacific coast, U.S. footballer and icon of the women's game Alex Morgan announced her retirement. With near immediate effect. The 35-year-old will play one more match, this Sunday night against the North Carolina Courage.

'"I'm retiring. I have so much clarity about this decision,” said Alex Morgan in her retirement video.

“It has been a long time coming, and this decision wasn’t easy, but at the beginning of 2024, I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer. The impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I am proud of the hand I had in making that happen, pushing the game forward, and leaving it in a place that I am so happy and proud of.” 

In the heartfelt and personal video, the San Diego Wave player posted, she also revealed that she was pregnant with her second child. And that one of the proudest things of her career was creating a more realistic pathway to being a professional women's soccer player for her four-year-old daughter Charlie.

Morgan's on pitch exploits speak for themself. Two World Cups, an Olympic gold, an NWSL championship, shield and Challenge Cup, a French league title and a UEFA Champions League win too.

But off the pitch, Morgan's legacy will go further. An avid advocate for investment in the women's game, outspoken on equal pay, she was also instrumental in brining in protections into the NWSL that saw abusive characters removed from the league. Women's football is a safer because of Morgan.

The final year of Morgan's career has seen a decline. After going almost year without scoring for the U.S. national team in 2023, she eventually lost her place in the squad this past summer.

Since being a golden boot winner in the NWSL in 2022, with 15 goals, Morgan's league performances have similarly tapered off. Seven goals in 2023 has been followed by zero in 2024.

On Sunday, in her final game, Morgan will look to end a league goal-drought that dates back to the 15th October 2023, 13 matches and 923 minutes ago.

A 2024 that has seen the San Diego Wave disassemble won't take anything away from one of the USA's best-ever players. Here's hoping that the Snapdragon stadium pitch can hold it together in order to give Morgan a memorable and worthy send-off. One where the legend nets one last final time.

Revival Royals

The Utah Royals looked dead and buried. They were bottom of the NWSL, languished in last place for attack and defense, and had just sacked their first-time head coach (Amy Rodriguez) at the very end of June.

But no. Arise the 'Revival Royals'. The yellow-clad club who have posted back-to-back wins for the first time during their 2024 expansion season. The 3-1 win over the then 13th-placed Houston Dash meant that the Royals also climbed off rock bottom for the first time since April.

Since Rodriguez was sacked, the Royals have picked up seven out of a possible nine points. Only the Orlando Pride have picked more points (nine). If you include two wins in the NWSL x LigaMX Summer Cup, then Utah is on a four-match win streak in all comps.

Keep an eye on Claudia Zornoza

Okay, sticking with the Royals for one more moment. A big part of their success the past few weeks has been down to the trio of summer signings (Cloe LaCasse, Mina Tanaka, and Claudia Zornoza). A big upgrade their squad midseason.

The pick of the bunch so far is the Zornoza. Since the NWSL restarted two weeks ago, no player has had more key passes than the 33-year-old Spaniard (seven). Quickly, she has grabbed the Utah midfield by the scruff of the neck and started manufacturing lanes for teammates to attack into.

Not only score her first NWSL goal by converting a penalty, in Texas at the weekend, but she had the oh-so-gorgeous assist for Paige Monaghan to make it 3-1. Collect the ball. Turn. Look up. See the space. Hit the space. Technique and vision. A player to watch down the stretch.

The KC slide, is it real?

Just as things are looking up for Utah, to finish their first year back in the NWSL with a late-season surge, questions are starting to be asked of the Kansas City Current.

Vlatko Andonovski's team has lost both matches since the restart, and they also lost the final match, at home to Orlando Pride, before the Olympic break. So, that's a three-match skid for the Midwesterners.

It's not all bad. Temwa Chawninga is flaming all in her sights, with nine goals and two assists in her past seven matches, which is also a league record for consecutive games with a goal.

But who else is contributing to the goals? The last time a player not named Chawinga scored for the Current was on the 23rd of June, a 4-1 win over the Portland Thorns.

KC's defense has been struggling all year, and the midseason pick up of centreback Alana Cook hasn't helped just yet. Goalkeeper AD Franch was dropped for German veteran Almuth Schulz at the weekend and there's a sense the Tealers are vulnerable.

Assister's celebration captured

Quick one here. Just a shout out to the photographer at the Angel City-Chicago Red Stars match who captured Mary Vignola's emotional reaction to assisting the winning goal in the 90th minute. Pure feels.

Goalscoring celebrations are well renowned, but I loved this capturing of Vignola after her lung-busting dribble and squeezed low pass across the face of the box for Sydney Leroux to slot home. Art and vision. Please let me know the photographer.

Texas goal-drought

There may be a lot of rain falling from the sky in Southeast Texas during the summer, but goals? Well, they have been much harder to come by.

Andressa's impressive direct goal versus Utah, that saw the Brazilian sneak behind the Royals backline on a long ball, and dribble around Mandy Haught, then finish into an empty net, was the Houston Dash's first NWSL goal as a club since the 7th of June. A record club goal-drought of six matches and 624 scoreless minutes. Ooooof.

Houston have invested far more in its defence than in its attack as the 2024 season has gone on, and there's a real struggle at the number nine position where both Diana Ordonez and Michelle Alozie have struggled for form in orange.

With a daunting away trip to NJ/NY Gotham FC next weekend – who have second-best defensive record in the league (16 goals conceded, 17.6 xG against) – it's not going to get easier for the Dash anytime soon.

Racing can't catch a break

Oh, Racing Louisville. Since 2021 the Kentucky club has basically been glued to ninth place in the NWSL table. This season, the playoffs places have been expanded to eight and yet again they are on the outside looking in, currently 10th.

If you look at expected goal difference, xGD, a somewhat consistent barometer that show how well a team is doing, then Louisville are in fact ranked sixth in the NWSL with +1.7. Ahead of current playoff teams NC Courage, Bay FC, and the Chicago Red Stars.

All that is to say, Louisville are not far off it. There's a clear idea how they want to play on the ball, how they want to press in early phases, then keep the ball and use wingers and set pieces to cross for physical target forwards.

This past weekend's 3-2 defeat that saw Louisville twice take the lead from well-worked corner kicks only to then concede a penalty by Sofia Huerta, a worldie free kick from Ji, and then a final minute Arin Wright own goal was exemplary of just how unlucky they were/are.

The football gods can be cruel, and perhaps Racing's luck won't change. But they dominate large portions of games they don't close out. How long will it take for the club to mount the mental hurdle of being a winner in the the NWSL?

Cortnee Vine key to Courage fortunes?

Has there been a harder team to work out in the NWSL this season than the North Carolina Courage? With eight home wins from nine, and eight away defeats from nine, they are shaping up to be the ultimate fortress team who can't travel.

However, one thing appears certain. So far through two matches since she signed, Cortnee Vine might well be built for the NWSL.

I wasn't totally sold on the move when North Carolina picked up the former Sydney FC forward on a free during the Summer transfer window. I really admire what Vine offers as a dribbler, and a player who can stretch backlines. But did she have the technical ability and quick decision-making to execute the right balls in the box in the NWSL?

Well, the early performances look good. Vine scored arguably the goal of the weekend, her first in the NWSL, when she cut inside and banged in the equalizer for the Courage in the second half. Exquisitely taken, and absolutely emphatically answering the criticism I may have had.

North Carolina are one of the best coached and most consistent teams in the NWSL when it comes to style of play, and build-up through the first two thirds of the pitch. If they can put their struggles for presence in the opposition box to bed, they can make a real run push at going deep in the NWSL playoffs.

After all, Vine is 9,188 miles from home. So who could be a better away traveller than her?

NWSL Feels XI – Matchday 18

Sort of like a team of the week – mostly gut feels, and who brought the good vibes.