Alex Morgan talks home opener against Kansas City Current and ownership change
Alex Morgan speaks with media ahead of March 23, home opener against Kansas City Current.
San Diego’s most successful sports team in recent years, San Diego Wave Fútbol Club, spent this past weekend adding to their trophy case after winning the National Women’s Soccer League Challenge Cup in New Jersey when they beat Gotham FC 1-0 with a late header by international star Alex Morgan.
Now they enter their first week of the regular season Saturday, March 23, to take on Kansas City Current at Snapdragon stadium in their home opener and are likely to set the NWSL attendance record for the season.
Coming off her game winning goal in the 88th minute, Alex Morgan spoke with reporters before training on Tuesday morning to speak about the challenge cup victory, thoughts on Kansas City Current and recent ownership change by the club.
“Having the challenge cup win helped us gain a little bit of momentum and really come together in a time period that we haven’t really been together a lot because of the internationals being away for a large chunk of preseason, so it’s really an exciting time,” Morgan said. “It's been what feels like a really long offseason and a long time since we’ve played in front of our fans with the Wave crest, so we’re just looking forward to having a good game this weekend.”
As the challenge cup match did not count toward the regular season, all other teams in the NWSL began their season over the weekend, including their opponents for the weekend, Kansas City Current.
The Current made headlines over the weekend when they sold-out their brand new riverfront stadium that is dedicated solely to professional women’s soccer. It is the first of its kind in the United States, and the match broadcasted nationally on ABC where it was the second most viewed regular season NWSL match ever and drew 614,000 viewers according to ESPN. The match itself also did not disappoint and became a goalscoring frenzy as the Current held on to beat the Portland Thorns 5-4 after leading 5-1 in the 68th minute.
“All of us on the Wave were tuning in to the Kansas City game, not only because we’re playing them this weekend, but just to see the crowd show up to that game in that stadium they just opened,” Morgan said. “The first stadium for a women's soccer team, specifically for a women's soccer team and it didn't disappoint obviously there were so many goals, but we saw a lot of what Kansas City can bring.
“Every single opponent is going to be challenging in the NWSL. It's the most competitive league in the world, so it’s gonna be a really good game. We see they have a lot of different players that they didn’t have last year, especially some young players, some teenagers, so it was really cool to see that game and to see them win in front of their home fans and now I think it’s our time to do that.”
Also in the news last weekend came before the challenge cup began when Sportico reported on Thursday that the Wave were being sold by principal owner Ron Burkle to Arthur Levine and Lauren Leichtman— founders of a private equity firm based in Los Angeles—for $120 million dollars by the end of the 2024 NWSL season. Morgan spoke to what ownership change means for the players and the growth in investment in the women’s game.
“Over the last couple of years, all we’ve asked from our owner to support us and to give us the best opportunity to be able to bring home championship’s and trophies, and we’ve had that support,” said Morgan. “And that’s all we continue to ask regardless of ownership changes or selling some of the club.
“I think for us as a team nothing changes, our expectations don’t change. I think people wanting to invest and wanting to support the NWSL and women’s soccer is a good thing, so I think we’re seeing it just trending upwards. Even just looking at the valuation over the last couple of years to now is really incredible, and that just goes to show the growth that women’s soccer always had the potential of, and now seeing it in real time is pretty incredible.”
The Wave have a 1W-2L-1D record against the Current across four matches over the past two seasons. The weather forecast in Mission Valley for Saturday is set to be 59 degrees fahrenheit and mostly cloudy when the match starts at 7 p.m. PST and will be broadcasted for free on Ion.
