Alana Cook Enters Alex Morgan’s Bracket After Achieving Iconic Milestone as USWNT Brush Past Ireland in Pre-World Cup Friendly

Currently, the USWNT is seemingly the strongest women’s soccer team in the world. Apart from veterans like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, US Soccer is overflowing with bright and young talents. The USWNT recently played two friendly games against Ireland. While the US emerged victorious on both occasions, a stunning goal by Alana Cook has gone viral on social media.

Apart from that, Cook has also reached a significant milestone and is currently in the same bracket as Alex Morgan. Other than Cook and Morgan, only one other US women’s soccer player has ever achieved that milestone.

Alana Cook joins an elite group with Alex Morgan

After a comfortable 2-0 win in the first fixture, the USWNT barely managed to brush past Ireland in the second game. Alana Cook scored the opener and the only goal of the game. But the fanbase will definitely remember Cook’s goal for the ages. Unknowingly, the American defender also got her name into a very exclusive bracket.

Surprisingly, Alex Morgan is the only one of the two other players in the exclusive bracket. Mia Hamm was the first one to set the record in 1998. Followed by Alex Morgan nearly two decades later, in 2019. These three names are the only players to ever score a goal on their birthday for the USWNT.

Even though the US managed to win both their fixtures against Ireland, the fans were quite disappointed after today’s 1-0 win. The fans felt that the team was severely disjointed and there was no structure to the game. They also felt that the margin of victory should have been way bigger, considering that Ireland is a weaker side.

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Apart from the fan’s opinions, the USWNT head coach acknowledged the ‘roster selection headache’ ahead of the upcoming women’s World Cup.

Is Thompson the most likely Swanson replacement?

During the post-match interview, Andonovski addressed a few questions regarding the overflowing talent and shortage of places in the squad ahead of the World Cup. A few days back, US Soccer suffered a terrible hit after the medics carted Mallory Swanson off the field due to a serious injury. They later announced that Swanson would not be fit in time for the World Cup.

Considering Swanson’s sudden exit, Andonovski had to give his other strikers enough playing time to make a decision. Alyssa Thomson was always the most likely replacement. In regards to that, he said, “Once we lost Mal in the last game, we knew that it may be a long-term injury. We wanted to explore every possible option before we make a final decision, and one of those was Alyssa Thompson”, as per CBS.

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What do you think about Alana Cook’s stunner against Ireland? Let us know in the comments below.