Take a bow, Alex Morgan.
Make it a long and delayed one that allows the whole country, aspiring players, moms and daughters and sons to appreciate the doorway you helped kick off the hinges.
Pause to fully understand the fleet-footed soccer sharpshooter, trailblazer and change agent you’ve been. Breathe in the powerful fact that you made a choice not to be a selfish and reclusive athletic star counting your money in the shadows.
You decided to machete through stereotypes, “the way it is” and penny-pinchers to re-imagine the landscape for millions of girls who will come after.
You didn’t choose yourself. You chose everyone.
When you walked off in the fitting 13th minute Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium against the North Carolina Courage, the clock and your jersey number came into poetic sync.
As you removed your cleats and tossed kisses to the crowd, a meaningful and lasting torch was being passed. When you removed the captain’s arm band and handed it to goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, a full-throated roar rose.
All good things must end, as they say. Even spectacular, captivating and magical things. Even things we hope might stiff-arm the rules of the universe and last forever.
“This last moment I shared on the field with you,” Morgan told the crowd of 26,516, “I will cherish forever.”
As a player? You were brilliant, a left-footed marvel with a fatal combination of speed, power and accuracy. At the height of your pitch-prowling prowess, you were elite.
You were …
“Feared,” U.S. National Soccer Hall of Famer Shannon MacMillan, a Cardiff resident, told the Union-Tribune by phone Sunday. “When you have a flashy goal scorer with a nose for the goal, that strikes fear in opponents.”
Those at Snapdragon inched to the front of their seats when you were handed the ball for a penalty kick in the 10th minute. There it was again, if only for a fleeting second.
That fear. That frenzied anticipation. That iconic left foot. Bottled magic, waiting to be uncorked.
When Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy saved the shot rifled toward the upper-left corner, the collective “ooohhhh!” underscored the deflation.
No Hollywood script after all, in the brutal early September heat.
“I feel like I did everything I could have,” Morgan said after the game. “I left everything on the field. I did everything I wanted to and more.”
In the end, you were something significantly more than a goal scorer, raising so many banners. For working moms. For equal pay. For unapologetic entrepreneurs.
For the next girl and the next girl … and the one after that.
“I would say Alex Morgan has been as important to women’s soccer as Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers were in their eras,” Brandi Chastain, another California Hall of Famer, told the Union-Tribune.
“That’s why we should really celebrate Alex and her career. She put her head down and went to work on the hard things. She was equal parts strong, smart, beautiful and courageous.”
The fact that it ended so abruptly, during the season and with a social media post, caused seismic ripples across sports. Not simply across women’s soccer, since you have long since been more than that.
The whole country took stock.
“What she’s done for the sport of soccer in this country, for women’s sports and for women, I think is unmatched,” Wave interim coach Landon Donovan said after his team fell 4-1 to the North Carolina Courage. “It’s been an honor, truly an honor.
“… It’s sad to see her go, honestly. I don’t think there will be another one like her.”
The U.S. cherishes its conquering sports heroes and you were a conquering force with two World Cup championships, an Olympic gold medal and more trophies than a sporting goods store.
You were the ponytail with power and purpose.
That the final chapter closed with a scoreless season for your beloved Wave, a nagging injury and a TV vantage point as the U.S. sewed up more Olympic gold, failed to diminish the flame.
It showed the resolve that fueled it all.
“In no way would I ever regret playing one more year, because I’ve always told myself, ‘If you don’t try, you can’t succeed,’” Morgan said during a press conference Friday. “The only way to succeed is through trying and giving everything, and that’s all that I’ve tried to do.”
Emotions swallowed Morgan up on that last part, something so personal and important mined from a bumpy finish.
Teaching lessons and showing a path, to the end.
“That’s just amazing to share the field with someone you idolized growing up,” said teammate Melanie Barcenas, 16, who is closer in age to Morgan’s 4-year-old daughter Charlie.
Morgan announced she and husband Servando Carrasco are expecting their second child.
It’s time for the next.
Take another bow, though, for good measure.
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