How is Alex Morgan still this good while 7 months pregnant?

Policy here: https://resources.fifa.com/image/up...s-tokyo-2020.pdf?cloudid=vbcdyqocqmpmddrra11o

Pulling relevant sections out for you:

"The purpose of selecting alternate players is, in principle, to have them available should one or more of the officially enrolled players sustain an injury or in the case of force majeure once the final competitions have started;"

"Players may only be replaced according to the IOC Late Athlete Replacement Policy for reasons of injury, illness or force majeure. If a player who features on the final list of 18 players or four alternate players sustains a serious injury or is so ill that he/she can no longer be expected to play, that player may be replaced provided that:

1. a) the FIFA Medical Committee has verified the injury or illness on the basis of a medical certificate issued by the team doctor responsible (in one of the four official languages of FIFA);
   
   
2. b) the player’s incapacity has been confirmed by FIFA;
   
   
3. c) the relevant form has been properly submitted to Tokyo 2020 by the Chef de Mission of the respective NOC (or other official NOC representative authorised to do so according to the IOC Late Athlete Replacement Policy)."
   

 

Got it. Thank you. This is why I asked the question. I did not know the rules on alternates.

 

The team has not been at a stand still, it's in a process of dynamic change. Alex hasn't been part of that change. She's perhaps been able to observe it, which may be why she's been around camp. But that doesn't make her part of it.

It certainly looks like she's going to do everything she can to be in the 18. But if she's to be in it, it should be strictly based on the current situation -- her status, where the team is in the process of change, whether her addition and someone else's deletion will make the team better, and so on. I actually believe that's how Vlatko and company will address the question.

I'm very confident that no one presently knows how these things will turn out -- not Vlatko, not Alex, ... and certainly not any of us here on BS.

 

Thank you for providing the officia

Don't be too quick to give up. Where there's a will there's a way.

 

One more thank you to lil_one for providing this valuable information.

 

Long post alert.

So, because I think we need actual info here, here we go. Some further clarification on my post about previous USWNT moms' returns, here's the data/timelines:

Fawcett: first child born in May 1994 and plays less than 90 minutes (maybe a half?) in her first friendly match back at the end of July 1994; she came back to practice though about 3 weeks after giving birth; next tournament was WWC starting in June 1995; second child born in May 1997; first friendly back was in November 1997 (played full 90); next tournament was not until June 1999; third child born in June 2001; returned to play 77 minutes in a friendly in September 2001; next tournament was in September 2003

Overbeck: gave birth to child in August 1997; played 90 minutes in a friendly in October 1997; next tournament started in June 1999

Rampone: gave birth in September 2005; played 67 minutes in a friendly in January 2006; next tournament was WWC in September 2007; gave birth in March 2010; played 20 minutes in a friendly in July 2010; next tournament was in June 2011

Markgraf: gave birth in July 2006; played 63 minutes in a friendly in October 2006; next tournament was WWC in September 2007; had twins in June 2009; played 27 minutes in a friendly in May 2010; retired soon after

Leroux: had a child in September 2016; was named to the USWNT roster in May 2017 but did not play in a game for the USWNT until July 2017; hasn't played for the USWNT since but did return to playing as a sub for her club 3 months after giving birth to her second child

Also all that with the caveat that every pregnancy is different. One player's situation and return does not mean another player will have a similar timeline. That should go without saying, but it seems worthwhile to mention anyway.

 

Probably, but (1) @lil_one 's FIFA policy book looks like it was written before women existed; and (2) I would be surprised if there were any mention of pregnancy.

Quoting from the general provisions (p.6):

"6. Terms used in these Regulations referring to natural persons are applicable to both genders. Any term in the singular applies to the plural and vice versa."

Anyway, Morgan's biggest obstacle is the commonsense, "If you're not ready to play, we're not putting you on the roster," but exactly how ready she'll have to be to pass muster is one of the things we're speculating about.

 

No, it has not. Mostly because it seems that players in the past have planned their pregnancies around the tournaments. Also Fawcett is on the record as saying that the first time she came back so quickly it was out of fear of losing her spot on the team, not because she was ready. There was no guarantee in the CBA then (there was no CBA at all) that you would have a chance to come back and try to regain your spot. Probably also worthwhile to note that she was back on the team so quickly at a time when the player pool was much smaller.

 

Shoot, I left off Rodriguez.

Rodriguez: had first child in August 2013; played in a friendly in January 2014; next tournament was WWC in January 2015; had second child in July 2016; returned to play 10 minutes in a friendly in April 2017 (did not play any more USWNT games in 2017 and only 2 in 2018)

 

Hard line. Don't roster players you aren't sure of.

A soft line will erode into abuse faster'n you can say Birgit Prinz...

 

We can compare this to an actual situation. If after Ellis put Rapinoe on the roster, she saw that she wasn't going to be fit enough for the whole tournament and wanted to drop her, do you think FIFA would have allowed it? No, they would have said something like, "you knew she was coming back from an ACL injury. You chose to roster her anyway. Too bad, so sad."

(Ok, obviously, I'm still hung up on the inclusion of Rapinoe. If we win this Olympics, maybe I'll get over it. But I can never forget her getting subbed into that Sweden game and then having to be subbed off. Waste of a sub.)

 

Morgan should be treated as any other player on medical leave. She chose to get pregnant (or chose to not take the precautions). Now she’s trying to use media and other tools to force her way back in. There’s no special case. She’s fit or she’s not. If she does not beat our other players in whatever camps she can attend post birth, before the roster is sent to the Olympic committee, she shouldn’t go.

 

The answer is no. She’s trying to do something that has never been done before.

 

Geez, I'm on my third cup of coffee today but still:

Obviously that should read *next tournament was WWC in June 2015

 

Facts not in evidence?

Doesn't seem to me to be trying to do anything more than stay within spitting distance of in shape ATM.

And what would be forcing her way back in? Like at gunpoint or something?

 

Agreed. With the small roster and short turnaround between games, you need everyone to be able to play. For the USWNT, every rostered field player has played minutes in the Olympics except for in 2000 (The same is not true for the WWC where we've usually had at least 1 field player not make it on the field; 1999 and 2019 were exceptions). Heinrichs had the same starting lineup every game in 2000 and used only 12 of the 16 field players in the tournament. By the second half of the final, players looked dead tired, and we lost. (We also have an additional game to play now since 2000; in 1996 and 2000, the top 4 teams went directly to the semifinal from the group stage.)

2000 might be another good example of taking an unfit player in taking Overbeck even though she was recovering from knee surgery and Graves' disease. She didn't play any minutes in the tournament, and retired after the post-Olympics friendlies. She was the team captain though. (Yeah, you could say the same for Morgan, but I think all of Lloyd, Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn, etc will be on the roster. We've got the captaincy covered.)

 

Well, the Brazilian from Billie Jean's youth... Maria...…….Bueno? didn't come back till the kid was 18 IIRC...

But the WNBA is the place to look; a whole raft of players have played into advanced pregnancy. Apparently Rebekah Brunson played and starred through the playoffs while 8 months pregnant.

The women's softball team I managed for a couple of years, the centerfielder played the whole season from 4-7 months... slowed her down a bit, but the real trouble was the next year-- the advancing pregnancy allowed her to adjust to changes in her center of gravity as it progressed.

But then all that weight and where it was suspended was gone overnight, and she was months learning her own body again afterwards. She got the running and catching down pretty quick-- but every swing she took drove the ball to exactly the same place, and every opponent learned to just put someone there to catch it.

Damnedest thing you ever saw-- probably harder to do intentionally than polevaulting, but she couldn't stop doing it to save her life.

 

There's a difference between a true captain/leader that unites the team, diffuses difficult situations, deals with the refs and is respected as a leader by her teammates... and marketing/veteran face CINO's (Captains in Name Only). Julie Ertz and Sauerbrunn are the real heart and leaders of the team. Sauerbrunn was elected by her peers and inexplicably had the armband snatched away from her right before the WC. I remember a lot of fans being upset about that, even if she's a leader regardless of a piece of fabric. Lloyd, Morgan and Pinoe (although I do think Pinoe is a vocal leader moreso than the other two)...CINOs from what I see.

 

Yes, she has natural leadership qualities. So does Becky, but Becky is more of a quiet leader. I think Krieger also has natural leadership qualities. I can't remember if she wears the armband for Orlando or not. Harris had it for awhile which was an even bigger joke than Morgan having it.

 

This is getting away from the topic of the thread, but I don't think there's any indication that Sauerbrunn was "elected by her peers." I believe all captains have been selected by the coaches. I do still wonder what exactly happened with Sauerbrunn being removed as captain, but we can't say for sure that she didn't take herself out of the role. And IIRC, her being out with injury in 2018 contributed to it, or at least the timing suggested so. Additionally, every indication is that Lloyd and Rapinoe are real, not nominal, leaders on the team (vocally or otherwise), although I'd agree that Sauerbrunn and Ertz also offer veteran leadership. Of course, none of us really know since we're not in the locker room and don't see those team dynamics.