AUCKLAND, New Zealand – A penalty kick is equal parts excitement and cruelty. Excitement for the penalty taker if they convert or the goalkeeper if they save. Cruelty for either if they don’t.
Alex Morgan has been on both ends of that spectrum. Which is why she won’t put too much stock in her miss in Saturday’s World Cup opener against Vietnam.
“You can try to recreate (penalty kicks) in training, but obviously the psychological factor comes into play with a packed stadium, a goalkeeper you might not have faced before, the pressure of where you are in a game, if you’re up, you’re down or whatever the score line is,” she said Tuesday.
“At the same time, it’s something that you train and train. The ball is always at the same spot and you try to put it in a particular place,” she added. “That was not the case for me the other day. And hopefully it was the last of that not (being) the case for me.”
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Morgan is hardly the first star player to miss a penalty. In this World Cup alone, international scoring leader Christine Sinclair of Canada and Spain’s Jenni Hermoso have both missed penalty shots.
Heck, Lionel Messi is the greatest to ever play the game and he missed one in last year’s men’s World Cup. Second one of his World Cup career, in fact. Harry Kane made one but missed another that could have tied the game in England’s 2-1 semifinal loss to France in Qatar.
“When you put away a penalty, obviously it feels really good,” Morgan said. “When you don’t it really sucks. You feel like you’ve let the team down.”
But in soccer, as in all sports, the misses – and the makes – have to be forgotten immediately. Because another chance is bound to come soon, and what you did the last time will have no bearing on what happens the next time you stand over the penalty spot.
“I’m glad to put that behind me,” Morgan said, “and really hopeful for future (ones) in this tournament.”
As she should be.
Morgan has not always been the USWNT’s primary penalty taker. For much of her career, that duty’s gone to Megan Rapinoe, who famously converted three at the World Cup in 2019, including one in the final against the Netherlands.
But Rapinoe is no longer a starter and, when she’s not on the field, Morgan is the most-logical choice to take penalties. She’s fifth on the USWNT’s all-time scoring list, with 121 goals, and she made her first three PK attempts for the U.S. women, according to FBref.com.
That included one that lifted the USWNT over Canada in last summer’s Concacaf championship, where the Americans qualified for both the World Cup and next year’s Paris Olympics.
Morgan has also made her last seven PKs in club play, including two already this year. Going back to 2013, she is 12 of 16 from the spot with her club teams.
“I’ve seen Alex make basically every PK I’ve ever seen her take,” teammate Sofia Huerta said. “But the reality of it is we’re human, and we’re not perfect. Every player that takes a PK and steps up to take a PK … they’re bound to miss one every once in a while.”
Honestly, if Morgan were to miss one – and the law of averages says she eventually would – Saturday’s game was the time to do it.
The USWNT had already gotten the only goal it needed when Morgan stepped to the spot, and the Americans ended up with a 3-0 win over Vietnam. The missed PK didn’t affect the outcome of the game. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.
But there will be another game when it will. Expect Morgan to deliver when it does.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.
