Alex Morgan’s decision to spend a short period playing in England with Tottenham Hotspur highlighted her commitment to succeeding with the United States according to her national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
The 31-year-old joined Spurs on a short-term deal in September as she looked to regain fitness after giving birth. The player spent three months with the North Londoners before returning to the United States in December. Morgan made five appearances for Spurs, scoring two goals, both of which were from the penalty spot.
Morgan is a member of the United States’ 23-player squad for this month’s SheBelieves Cup. FA Women’s Super League Full-Time have been speaking with head coach Andonovski ahead of the tournament and he told us that Morgan’s decision to join Spurs was a sign of her dedication to the United States national team.
“It was extremely important (that Morgan got playing time at Spurs)” said Andonovski. “It just shows the character, the determination and the commitment that Alex has for the game and for this team.
“To go overseas in the middle of a pandemic with her child to play games just so she can be best prepared to overcome the challenges that she has with the national team is something that we really respect and value.
“It is a great example for young players that are coming into the national team to see what it takes to be on this team.
“The move definitely helped her.”
Morgan tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after returning to the United States. National team head coach Andonovski went on to say that the player is working hard to regain full fitness following her illness.
“We are all very happy that COVID did not impact her health” he said. “It did impact her fitness because she wasn’t able to do everything that she wanted to do and she had to miss the camp (in January).
“She is one of the players which our high performance coaches are supervising, providing training, so that when she comes in camp, she is performing close to the levels that everyone else is at and she is not behind.”
The United States will face Canada, Brazil and Argentina in this year’s SheBelieves Cup which begins on 18 February.
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