Tottenham’s Alex Morgan: ‘My touch? I’m still waiting for it to come back’

The USA Women striker on her move to Spurs and juggling motherhood with playing football in a new country

When the Tottenham forward Kit Graham slotted in a training-ground penalty against Alex Morgan’s team, suddenly “all the girls were laughing”, the USA Women star says with a grin. It took her a moment to realise that Graham had cheekily celebrated with her little finger stuck out as if sipping tea, in the same way Morgan did after scoring against England in their 2019 World Cup semi-final.

Such moments have brought some much-needed lightheartedness to the 31-year-old’s new life in London. With the spectre of Covid-19 hanging over the National Women’s Soccer League, Morgan had to make a fast and difficult decision to “pull my family apart from each other” and fly herself, her four-month-old daughter, Charlie, and her mother-in-law to England, away from her husband and fellow professional footballer, Servando Carrasco, in search of fitness and regular games.

Hayley Raso scored twice as Everton cruised to 6-0 win over Aston Villa to move top of the Women’s Super League. The Australian netted her first goal for the club in the 21st minute, tapping in Claire Emslie’s cross, before doubling the Blues’ lead three minutes later following a gift from Villa goalkeeper Lisa Weiss. A short ball from Izzy Christiansen allowed Scottish striker Emslie to curl in a third in the 28th minute, with Valerie Gauvin getting herself on the scoresheet five minutes before half-time. Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah had an instant impact after coming off the bench, scoring the fifth goal in the 51st minute with what looked to be a cross to the back post, and Emslie grabbed her second of the game two minutes later to complete the rout. It was Everton’s third consecutive win of the campaign, while Aston Villa have now conceded 11 goals across three games after slumping to a third straight defeat.