Olympics soccer: Is Alex Morgan the next Mia Hamm? Teammates gush.

Alex Morgan is the real deal, state coaches and teammates. She’s a new breed of US women’s soccer player and an integral part of the team’s push for Olympic gold against Japan Thursday.

By Mark Sappenfield, Staff writer /August 9, 2012

Alex Morgan (l.) celebrates with coach Pia Sundhage after defeating Canada in their women’s semifinal soccer match during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Monday.

Heather O’Reilly has just made a remarkable statement. It is a media summit before the Olympics began, and she is speaking about American soccer forward Alex Morgan.

“She is probably the ideal natural goalscorer I’ve played with,” she says.

Bear in mind, at the 2004 Olympics, Ms. O’Reilly played with Mia Hamm, the all-time leading goalscorer in women’s soccer history.

Then, earlier this week after a training session, No. 2 all-time leading scorer Abby Wambach took Ms. Morgan aside. “She stated she did not think she had had a partner in crime” – in this case, goalscoring – “since Mia Hamm in 2004,” Morgan stated at a press conference Wednesday.

There’s that Mia Hamm name again, and Morgan’s name right beside it.

As the Americans prepare to face Japan in the gold medal final of the London 2012 Olympics at historic Wembley Stadium Thursday, there is no question this is still Wambach’s team. Her presence is the central point around which the entire American team spins.

But there is also no doubt that Morgan is Wambach’s second half, forming the most lethal striking pair in women’s soccer and the face of the future of the game.

US coach Pia Sundhage was asked Wednesday about her team having conceded five goals combined to France and Canada this tournament. Her response was that America has scored eight – and none more important than Morgan’s header with 30 seconds left in the semifinal against Canada, breaking a 3-3 tie.

Indeed, the transformation of Morgan – as well as winger Megan Rapinoe, who scored twice against Canada – into elite soccer players during the past year has covered many of the American team’s faults. Without them, the US would nearly certainly be playing for bronze today.

But the two mean something more to the development of women’s soccer in America than a potential Olympic gold in London.

In Rapinoe and Morgan, the US has the beginnings of a new generation that matches the traditional American strengths of fitness, speed, and physical strength with the greater degree of sophistication seen in rising soccer nations like Japan, France, and Germany.

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