Alex Morgan Shortlisted for The Best FIFA Football Award

It’s been 24 days since the USWNT beat the Netherlands 2-0 at the 2019 FIFA World Cup final, and it’s safe to say that the hype may be dying down just a little. But on Wednesday, soccer fans of the world were reminded once again just how special of a player Pride striker Alex Morgan really is.

Orlando Pride’s Morgan is one of 12 names nominated for the FIFA’s The Best award. She now has two World Cup titles to her name after participating in the competition three times.

The award covers the FIFA schedule from May of 2018 to July of 2019. In that time, Morgan led all USWNT players with 22 goals — 13 of her total 18 goals from 2018 came in this period, along with nine total goals in 2019. She finished 10 goals better than second-place Carli Lloyd last year and is tied with Rapinoe on nine for the 2019 calendar year so far.

At this year’s World Cup the forward lit up Thailand in the United States’ opening game of the tournament with five goals. She finished the tournament scoring six goals, in 490 minutes of play; with both her left and right foot and once with her head.

Tied with Megan Rapinoe for the most goals of the tournament, Morgan won the Silver Boot, just being edged out by her teammate who played fewer minutes and was the team’s primary penalty taker. In addition to her three assists, one of Morgan’s goals against Thailand was declared the Goal of the Tournament.

Earlier this year Morgan was named Player of the Year at the Concacaf Awards. She has won the title four times in the last six years including the last three.

In April she scored her 100th goal for the USWNT against Australia in a 5-3 friendly victory. Morgan is only one of seven Americans to reach the century mark. She is currently tied in 10th place with Italian Elisabetta Vignotto for most goals in women’s soccer on the international level.

Also nominated for the The Best award are three of her teammates: Julie Ertz, Megan Rapinoe, and Rose Lavelle. Jill Ellis, who announced earlier this week that she’ll be leaving her head coaching role with the team has also been nominated for coaching accolades.

This year’s edition of The Best award will be announced in Milan, Italy on Sept. 23.

Morgan will rejoin her teammates from the national team to take on Ireland in a friendly as part of the Victory Tour this Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. The team will play three matches on its upcoming victory tour between Aug. 3 and Sept. 3. The other two matches will be against Portugal in Philadelphia and Minnesota.

The Pride will return to action on Aug. 10 against the Houston Dash at Exploria Stadium. Marc Skinner’s side has won three of its last five fixtures in league play.