Right choice leaving Alex Morgan? | The Late Sub with Claire Watkins

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In a KZbin exclusive episode, Claire hops on to react to the 2024 USWNT Olympic roster, with one big omission marking a new era of the team. She chats through the benefits of experience vs potential, versatility and fitness, and how this team will continue to gel while meeting the internal expectations of new manager Emma Hayes, which might not always coincide with what the fans want out of a major tournament.
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The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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[@debramarincik5095]

Some of the responses to Alex Morgan being left off the Olympics roster are just amazing to me and not in a good way. Its' apparent that there are other players that would better fit an Emma Hayes team but to say Alex "sucks, or dont let the door hit you in the butt on your way out" is so immature and incredibly rude. Alex has been has been a role model to many young girls throughout her career as well as being instrumental in helping to make the NWSL become a a better place for all the players. She certainly doesn't deserve such disrespect. 23:13

[@robertplant2059]

Then don't ruin the team with Raptino! Get rid of the Toxicity, ask a true legend Carli Lloyd!

[@ExternalInputs]

Unfortunately, comments like that indicate how low the internet has reached. People who have no real experience saying stupid things when being respectful to a great player should be the default position.

[@edb618]

Not even a question. The only question was surrounding Staab vs Dunn.

[@eliedabdab4339]

Claire, good summary of some difficult decisions! I went back to look at your commentary of a few weeks ago, and copy/pasted my roster guesses. Well, I didn't do too bad (down to the alternates) and totally agree with those who felt that AM should not be selected. As a matter of fact, she should have retired 3 years ago after the Tokyo OG. My 18 players were: 1- Naeher, 2- Murphy, 3- Girma, 4- Davidson (reluctantly, just for the height), 5- Nighswonger, 6- Dunn, 7- Fox, 8- Coffey, 9- Albert (she played in the CL so she knows the German players in our group), 10- Yohannes, 11- Horan, 12-Macario, 13- Lavelle, 14- Shaw, 15- Swanson, 16- Smith, 17- Rodman, 18- Staab (Dunn can back up both Jenna and Emily). Backups in case of injury: a- Williams, b- Gaetino, c- Bethune, d- Hirshfeldt Given that Lily probably did not wish to be cap-tied yet, I would have selected Bethune and Staab instead of Sonnett and Krueger. No disrespect to Krueger's defensive acumen, but she's so bad with the ball at her feet that she will be pressed mercilessly by the opposing players. As to Sonnett, she's been a wasted roster spot for years now and I have no clue why no coach would admit it. Finally, the minimizing of Korbin's talent is nothing short of insulting. She reached the CL semifinals this year with PSG, and by now has very good knowledge of our French and German opponents. She's very athletic and will play when Emma switches to a double pivot with Coffey. Given that our first opponent is Zambia (i.e. vs Banda and Kundananji), our midfield will certainly be a double pivot with Horan to minimize the open spaces available to those 2 very fast and skilled Zambian forwards. A double pivot is also likely against Germany in the group stage. I'm glad that Emma has rejected the Pinoe cultists' wishes to bury a 20-yr old who made a social media mistake. This after all is a sports team, not a political movement. My expectations are that we have the 2nd best 11 behind Spain, but that we are much deeper than Spain. I would be disappointed if we finish below silver medal.

[@machellovelivelife658]

I predict my comment will be deleted lol. But it is what it is. I appreciate Claire's charitable take on the roster picks, it was soccer focused, despite her likely having personal thoughts on Korbin being picked. Megan Rapinoe joked that her getting injured was "proof" that "God didn't exist". Which some Christians, not me (I can take a joke), felt offended by. Then another page, piggybacked on that, made a joke of said God that Megan referenced, intentionally injuring her. It was a play on her joke. To frame Korbin liking that post as "hatred towards a queer" player as I've heard Tobin say on her podcast w/ Christen Press, is such a gross & dishonest embellishment. As for the alleged "transphobic/homophobic" videos she liked, as someone who isn't social media savvy, I couldn't find the videos to watch for myself to make up my own mind. I don't blindly take the word of "the right" or "the left", the "Christians" or the "Gays", I prefer to make up my own mind. So I can't give much thought on those videos. "This after all is a sports team, not a political movement." Unfortunately, that ship has sailed. In an attempt to be "inclusive" the team has become very exclusive. In an unspoken, spoken way, the team expects every play to have the same positions (LGBTQ, Abortion etc). When you wear practice jerseys with a specific position, do players who disagree with said position on the shirt have permission to (1) not wear that shirt or even (2) wear the opposite position on their shirt WITHOUT being accused of being hateful by teammate? Likely not. The locker room has been lost, once they opened to the door on one thing, they necessarily had to keep the door open to all political issues that come down the pipeline. Now I know someone will say that certain topics are "not politics", I agree and disagree. Anything involving policy, is political AND personal if one feels like to affects you or those you care; there isn't really a true divide. I hope Hayes will steer the team back to simply football, with permission given to players to advocate whatever they want to advocate for on their OWN platforms and not in the field or in their jersey. There need to be more apolitical spaces, and we can debate/wrestle elsewhere. Every arena shouldn't have tension, that's exhausting :)

[@eliedabdab4339]

@@machellovelivelife658 holy shit, you sound reasonable! so yea, there is a significant risk of seeing your comment deleted....lol. a few points in support of your post: a- This is sporting National team, the platform doesn't belong to anybody, a fact that MR totally abused during the 2019-2023 period during which she was no longer good enough to be on the team, but Vlatko was too much of a pussy to retire her. She hijacked the platform to spew her politics, Jaeden Shaw should have been on that WC roster! b- I blame Cindy Parlow for allowing the USWNT to be more than a sport team representing the whole country. I have called for her resignation many times to be accountable for the MR garbage (including kneeling during the national anthem). While legal, that move was insulting to the vast majority of Americans. c- The topic of transgenderism is a complicated one that is definitely not ripe yet to consensus. As a result, unlike anti-racism messages, it doesn't belong on a national team to do list. d- Finally, in response to one of your points, a lot of people, especially the Pinoe cultists, have graduated from "inclusion" to "promotion". While inclusion is accepted by the majority of Americans with common sense (who shy away from dogmatism), promotion does not carry the same acceptance!

[@glamfd4ter2azon346]

Claire is right about Korbin, whether or not you want to admit it, and she lost her starting spot for PSG in the latter part of the season to Jackie Groenen, so clearly she isn't in the amazing form you think she is.

[@eliedabdab4339]

@@glamfd4ter2azon346 you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but you're factually incorrect! At 20 years old, KA can't even shine Groenen's shoes just yet, so no, she didn't lose her position to her. KA was being alternated with Samoura, depending on the formation being used. If more defense was needed, Samoura (a French girl so definitely a bit of an advantage on a French club) was favored. If more offense was needed, KA was favored. Hope this helps!

[@rynejones8513]

@@glamfd4ter2azon346 what do you think she is right about?

[@boootybounce420]

The narcissism of the previous generation of players really is incredible. From Rapinoe publicly crucifying Korbin Albert, to Alex Morgan throwing a fuss on social media about not making the Olympic team. It’s almost like us critics actually know what we’re talking about….these players don’t care about the team at all, and that’s why the last Olympic & world cups were such colossal failures. A bunch of individuals trying to play a team sport. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. God bless Emma Hayes

[@octoberscamp]

Alex Morgan did not throw a fuss. She sad she was sad not to be on it but will be cheering the team on from home.

[@ExternalInputs]

@@starlight7641 Emma made a tough decision, that's her job. She is anything but clueless, look at her track record. This happens all the time in sport, eventually yesterday's stars fade with age despite us wishing it didn't happen. The squad is only 18 players, as opposed to the men's 26, so considering the Olympic schedule doesn't allow much recovery and flexible players have an advantage, as tactics will vary for all the various matchups, so every spot is heavily scrutinised. It's a shame that the squad isn't bigger, to allow for taking a risk with older players. Maybe that's something that needs to be looked at.

[@mikey99]

They should have brought up the youth movement years ago

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Claire. Emma prefers flexible to one trick ponies. You might watch some videos from Chelsea. Albert was always going to the Olympics after she was forced to apologize. Why do this otherwise? The distraction of pointing out she wore a rainbow number for Pride was typical of Emma. Also Albert plays club football in Paris. I can imagine French supporters cheering her to wind up US fans, though. Good luck US for Olympics. It feels like Emma has you back on track, but the real destination is the next World Cup. Note that England cannot just compete at the Olympics as they need to be Team GB by permission of the other three UK countries' FAs. It is not something that is a "thing" here and Emma is so English, however much she loves US. The World Cup is the only one that will fulfill her ambition and building for that is always going to be priority. Beverly Priestman, also English, won the Olympics with Canada, but it was not really in the news here in UK.

[@dianapapagelis5217]

Sorry but sad that AlexMorgan not on the roster.

[@river6569]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Wtf are you talking about???? Now we can finally win some games !!!

[@meganharmon2923]

Did you listen to Hayes’ interview on the day of the decision? She explained all of this and her reasons why

[@StephenGagliardi-px8xo]

That is going to be the excuse if the do not medal

[@NomenFugazi]

They might not.Currently they’re ranked no.5 in the world,which is probably justified.

[@boootybounce420]

Nah USA is still the best in the world. They handicapped themselves with rapinoe & Morgan the past couple years. USA is winning it all easily

[@steveaustin2103]

Alex is #5 on the all time scoring list, and #9 in assists. I think she would score a few more or help with a few more this summer on muscle memory alone. But if it's really all about the next World Cup, then yeah give young players the experience.

[@henrywal]

Lol her pace is not there. She's never been multi-talented and have you saw her this yr in nwsl

[@river6569]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 Oh god. What the fuck list are you even looking at? Do you even watch European soccer? Horan knows how horrendous us soccer is, she was smart. That’s why she is the captain . It’s also why we had to bring in an English coach ! It’s okay. You don’t know. We won’t hold it against you for not knowing the game

[@kalmenbarkin5708]

She probably can score 1 or 2 more goals. But we have other players that given the same minutes can score 5 goals. And the goal here is to score more goals not to get Alex goals.

[@steveaustin2103]

Well I hope you are right, because there will be no Alex goals (or assists) this summer for sure.

[@kalmenbarkin5708]

@@steveaustin2103every single forward and midfielder called up to this roster is averaging more goal contributions per 90 minutes in the club game than she is - almost all are averaging 2-3x as many. Even Crystal Dunn who plays defense for club contributed more goal contributions per 90 than she has this season. So yeah we absolutely have better options.

[@dantran5821]

Because with newer and younger new coaches can easily be controlled players. And America is not a big country of soccer fan.😂

[@rasclotify]

100% the right choice. All this press talking about the shift & the tragedy of leaving Alex off the squad. This is how the shifts of football go, generations shift. She isn't the weapon she once was, Father Time & the setback on her form from Motherhood happened. She's been SO great for us over the years, thanks 100%, but is now just not as effective as she once was. If we want to win, if we want to stay competitive we had to move onto strikers who can score more consistently. Emma is a straight shooter & doesn't play into the hype or politics. It HAD to go this way.

[@AlexJaneson]

She actually played pretty well in 2022, but her form has fallen off a cliff since then.

[@danielmartin3369]

Alex off the Olympic team was the coach basically turning the heat up on all the players to let them know who’s in charge. I do think that it’s a small roster and hard to bring everyone

[@luizjoseferreira5793]

Ema has envy abaut her

[@safromnc8616]

Morgan has been well past it for sometime. That Generation (the ME team) should all be done.

[@mdpius]

There's zero benefit in taking Morgan to the Olympics, and i'm glad Emma knew that. Whatever Morgan can do, there are players that can do that better on this roster.

[@henrywal]

Morgan was just eye candy who feed off the talent around her.

[@happycheeto276]

Dear Emma Hayes, Thank you for not selecting Alex Morgan for the Olympic team. Sincerely, All the coaches/teams from the other participating countries@@henrywal

[@MultiY4]

​@@henrywal Nah, Alex Morgan was class in her day

[@jimwilliams7136]

Morgan's days are over. You can't play favorites in tournaments such as this.

[@artemus4432]

Why take a headache like Albert.

[@erobinsonii]

The other best choices as I see it are Andi Sullivan or one of two rookies with 0 caps. Of course you could choose Savannah DeMelo. Korbin Albert's not a headache for me.

[@JessicaChastainFan]

Headache, homophobe, religious-right cult member who believes in talking snakes. Yeah, should have kept Alex Morgan.

[@rynejones8513]

She is a very good player if you start thinking with your brain rather than your emotions.

[@artemus4432]

@@rynejones8513 She made no public mi culpa for her inflammatory statements and social media postings..and she should get a pass? Why not Yohannes or DeMelo instead

[@rynejones8513]

@@artemus4432 social media is irrelevant and no player has to please you. The coach values her soccer ability so she's on the team. I'm sure Yohannes was asked but isn't ready to commit to the US over Netherlands.

[@dianapapagelis5217]

Well take Crystal Dunn off

[@David_USC]

Why is this even news? Morgan should have been cut a long time ago.

[@BGG-dq2fo]

The young players shit the bed at the WC. Sophia Smith was trash just like Morgan was. Rodman wasnt that good either, and neither was Williams. Lavelle sucked as well.

[@RJ420NL]

Morgan should have been dropped a long time ago. She has not been effective in years. It would have been better to have used that time to help a younger player develop. Also, Rodman should not be on the roster. Rodman is not and never will be an international caliber player.

[@JNM202]

Whoa! So wrong about Rodman. Wait and see.

[@happycheeto276]

Your channel has no content and neither does your comment.

[@river6569]

Yes thank god! I can’t stand Alex Morgan. She’s been horrible for years. It’s pathetic just watching her play and that’s putting it nicely . A FORWARDS JOB IS TO SCORE AND SHE ABSOLUTELY NEVER DOES! Don’t even try with the “she drags defenders away from the other forwards” bullshit. Yes. They are supposed to do both Emma is an expert so if you disagree you’re just straight up wrong. Alex is gone for a reason. Because she sucks

[@happycheeto276]

Neither does your channel or comment.