Morgan Brian happy moving to outside midfield with USWNT
U.S. women's national team rising stars Morgan Brian and Julie Johnston paid a visit to PPL Park on Thursday to host a clinic for local kids as part of the She Believes pre-World Cup tour.
U.S. women's national team rising stars Morgan Brian and Julie Johnston paid a visit to PPL Park on Thursday to host a clinic for local kids as part of the She Believes pre-World Cup tour.
After the clinic ended, I had a few minutes to chat with both players. I was mainly there to talk to Johnston, who I'll be profiling as part of the Inquirer's Women's World Cup preview coverage in a few weeks.
I also got to chat with Brian about her rapid rise to stardom. It's not often that a college player earns selection to the U.S. senior women's squad, but Brian did so while at the University of Virginia. Now, at just 22, she's an essential part of the World Cup roster.
Here's a transcript of our conversation.
Do you ever step back and think about how incredibly fast you've risen through the national team ranks?
I don't think so, because I feel like once you step back, you kind of get - you know, you feel like you've made it, or you've realized that you've gotten there. I don't think that's how I am as a person, and I don't think I'll ever be like that. For me, it's just been awesome, and such a great journey. I want to, obviously, achieve so much more than I already have. So it's hard to step back and feel like it's been such a rise already.
U.S. head coach Jill Ellis has played you out on the wings a bit lately, instead of your usual central role. How has the move been for you?
I actually love it. Jill and I had a discussion that it might actually be a better spot for me, because my game is more of an attacking style, and I think that playing outside mid in the system that we play allows me to attack more. I feel like that's a lot of my strengths.
If she needs me to play there, that's great; if she needs me to play in the middle, I'll do that too. Whatever role I'm going to have on the team in the summer, I'm going to embrace it, and hopefully we win.
How does Jill fit all the incredible depth of talent at her disposal on to the field?
Yeah, it's hard. She has one of the hardest jobs for sure. It's hard because we have so much talent, and whether it is defending or attacking or anything, there are so many good players that she gets to choose from. It's such an awesome thing for her, but it's also hard for her at the same time.
And if she comes to you and says, "I need you to not start," is that okay?
Yeah. Anything to help the team. I'm young. I'm so excited to be on the U.S. women's national team representing our country at the World Cup. If she needs me to fulfill a different role, then whatever I need to do, I'll do it.
What are your expectations for yourself and overall this summer?
I think overall, obviously, the expectation is to come back to the United States with gold, and to win the whole thing. Hopefully we do that and everyone plays well. Individually, I'm just going to try and play my best, and hopefully that helps the team in any way possible, I'm not one to really have many individual goals in terms of a World Cup, when we're trying to win. If we do win, I think that will be the best outcome.
While you're in town you're getting to spend some time with your boyfriend, Union midfielder Eric Bird. How nice is it to see him for a bit?
It's really nice, especially since it's a week. We haven't gotten to spend a week together in a really long time. I think the last couple of times were four days here, four days there. This is nice.
Since you're spending so much time with the national team and your club, the NWSL's Houston Dash, how often do the two of you get to be together?
Between camps, so every three weeks to a month and a half.