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Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan is expected to return to full team training on Monday and could be available in some capacity for the NWSL fall season, coach Marc Skinner said Friday.
“I believe and hope that we can bring Alex to some of these games,” Skinner said. “Depending on how she goes and how she reacts to the training.”
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Morgan, who is trying to play for the first time since the birth of his son Charlie in May, has gone through individual training sessions with Pride, per the league’s coronavirus protocols. Skinner said he expected her to resume full training on Monday.
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“He’s been working really hard to get back,” Skinner said of Morgan, who documented his return to Orlando with Charlie earlier this week in an Instagram post. “If she doesn’t react to any kind of complaint during our training period for the next two weeks, then I’m very hopeful that we can take her to some of these games. And knowing Alex, the reason she’s training is because she wants to come back. to field “.
He said his status for the games would depend on how he physically reacted to training, as well as what he described as unspecified “travel aspects.”
While many stars will be missing when the NWSL kicks off a seven-week fall schedule this weekend, whether signed or loaned to overseas teams, Morgan would lend significant star power if he can return to action.
Pride will play their first game in North Carolina on September 19, being the penultimate team to take the field. They play in Houston the following week. Their two home games are on October 9 and 17 against Houston and North Carolina, respectively.
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The fall schedule marks the return of the NWSL to games on the market. Pride did not participate in the summer NWSL Challenge Cup after multiple players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus and contact tracing issues made travel to the tournament in Utah impossible.
Morgan won the Silver Boot at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, matching her American teammate Megan Rapinoe and England’s Ellen White for the top six goals of the tournament. She last played for Pride over a year ago. She left a game against Chicago on August 21, 2019 after a collision that resulted in a concussion. The team later announced that she would miss the remainder of the season due to a stress reaction to the kneecap in her right knee related to a previous injury.
“It looks great,” Skinner said of Morgan. “I have put her to the test in some of her steps on the field and she is sharp in mind and body. We hope she can play a role.”
Skinner also said Friday that Sydney Leroux, who gave birth to her second child last summer and returned to play three months later, was ready for the fall season.
“It looks fantastic,” Skinner said of Leroux, 30. “She’s in a hungry place again. She’s ready to play, she’s ready to show everyone that she is the player that everyone knows she is, but she wants to prove it again.
“If we can put them both on the field, there are no better attacking lines in the league.”
Pride has a dozen players currently on loan from overseas, including American defender Emily Sonnett and regulars Alanna Kennedy, Carson Pickett, Shelina Zadorsky and first-round pick Taylor Kornieck.
Source: espn.co.uk
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