In honoring Alex Morgan, U.S. women’s national soccer team celebrates change in Chester

CHESTER — The U.S. women’s soccer team is in the midst of a necessary change of generations. On Thursday night at Subaru Park, it will play out not just on the field.

The national team marks its return to Chester for the first time since 2022 with a pregame celebration of the career of forward Alex Morgan. It then hopes to fete the collection of national teamers who will be in town for the occasion by handling Portugal in a friendly, the latest test of depth ahead of next autumn’s World Cup qualifying.

Turning the page from the generation that won consecutive World Cups in 2015 and 2019 was well underway before the U.S. claimed gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Coach Emma Hayes steers a team to Chester with just three players — Emily Sonnett, captain Lindsey Heaps and Rose Lavelle — with more than 100 caps and only one other, defender Emily Fox, with even 40.

The interaction of generations is something Hayes wants to see in camp and in three games over the next week, their first games in 113 days.

But the interaction will also be felt off the field.

Morgan will be honored in Chester, site of the first of her 123 international goals in 224 caps on Oct. 6, 2010. Morgan retired at the end of 2024 with two Olympic medals, including gold in 2012, and two World Cup titles in three finals appearances.

The team assembled along the touchline is full of women who grew up idolizing a player who debuted while still at the University of California.

“There was nothing she didn’t achieve,” Hayes said. “She was a player that epitomized everything this program is about. She’s an unbelievable credit to her family because her drive, her desire, her determination to prove herself at the highest level is second to none. You can’t go anywhere in this country without them talking about Alex Morgan, and I think the sport should show a lot of gratitude to that, because it’s important for our players to be recognizable. And she is, without question, in recent times, one of the most recognizable faces in our sport.”

Morgan’s honor will be followed by one for Alyssa Naeher when the U.S. plays Portugal again Sunday in the goalie’s native Connecticut. It comes on the heels of a wave of NWSL retirements, including World Cup winner Christen Press.

“It’s always such a great opportunity to be able to honor and celebrate players like that,” Lavelle said. “I think they are the reason that we are the team we are. They taught us how to be excellent. So I think just being able to celebrate them and give them their flowers for all they’ve done for us, on and off the field, is really cool.”

Morgan’s collegiate ascent was then a rarity.

This window, the U.S. will field three teenagers, among them Lily Yohannes, who at 18 has scored in the Champions League for French power Lyon.

The team includes Alyssa Thompson, who scored her first NWSL goal while still in high school and who at age 20 made a major move to Chelsea, and Olivia Moultrie, the 20-year-old who signed with Portland at age 13.

Jaedyn Shaw is one of those precocious players, her debut with San Diego Wave coming in 2022, the second-youngest in league history and the youngest to score on her debut. Now 20, the forward played her first two and a half seasons with Morgan, learning the trade alongside one of the best to ever do it.

“I’m just grateful to have been a small part of her journey and just to know her and see who she really is as a person,” Shaw said. “I think she really took me under her wing at San Diego, and I’m really grateful for the time that I had to be her teammate and just get to know her.”

It’s a microcosm of what Hayes hopes players take from this camp.

The youth will be augmented by an Under-23 call-up at forward after Thursday’s game to replace Trinity Rodman.

Rodman, named to her first national team in six months after nagging back issues, suffered a knee sprain over the weekend playing for Washington that is less severe than originally feared.

“Absolutely bummed, as was she, but fortunately, it’s not too bad,” Hayes said.

Hayes will lean on her veteran triumvirate to guide, a job for which she knows they’re well equipped.

“There’s a little bit of old school in them, but their humility, their honesty, their generosity, their spirit, they’re a joy to be around,” Hayes said. “I love their company, as well as their qualities on the field, but I think it is absolutely important to talk about those qualities off the field, because they’re all the things fans and media do not see, and they are first class.”

“It is a really great mix,” Lavelle said. “I think we have experience. We also have youth, and we have youth with experience. So it’s pretty nice. I think anytime we come into camp, it’s a wealth of talent that is really fun to play with. It’s fun to play against in training. I think it makes us all better. So it’s fun. And it’s been a while since we’ve been together, so we’re excited to be back.”

For Hayes, the camp is another chance to assess. The U.S. will leave this international window with a year until the 2026 CONCACAF W Championship, an eight-team single-elimination tournament to cull four qualifiers for the World Cup in Brazil the following summer.

The generational interplay, from the past glories of Morgan to the promise of the teens, is an opportunity for wider contemplation, on where the program stands and where it may head.

“I think this gives us a chance to reflect as well on what the sport looked like when we were watching it on TV, if we were able to watch on TV, and seeing all those players that we looked up to for so long, and still kind of look up to,” Shaw said. “It’s kind of weird that they’re all retiring now, and it’s kind of stepping into this next role of, what can we do for the sport as well as coming after that generation? It’s an amazing time to be a part of it, and I’m really grateful for all those players that have come before me.”