USWNT rising star Mia Fishel suffers a torn ACL; Alex Morgan to replace her on Gold Cup roster

The 22-year-old is out of the Concacaf Gold Cup, in which the U.S. starts play in Tuesday night, and this summer’s Olympics. In steps Morgan who has a point to prove.

U.S. women's soccer team rising star Mia Fishel is out of the Gold Cup and this summer's Olympics because of a torn ACL.Read moreMichael Reaves / Getty Images

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Feb. 20, 2024, 2:23 p.m. ET

Mia Fishel, the U.S. women’s soccer team’s marquee young striker, suffered a torn ACL in her right knee at a national team practice on Monday, the team announced.

The 22-year-old is thus out of the Concacaf Gold Cup, which the U.S. was set to start play in Tuesday night; and almost surely this summer’s Olympics. She’ll also be sidelined for a long time from her club, England’s Chelsea, which she joined in August to much acclaim.

“I’m gutted for Mia, and I know the team and the entire staff is as well,” interim U.S. manager Twila Kilgore said in a statement. “She’s been very effective in camp and has worked hard to make an impact. Since she’s been getting call-ups to the national team, she’s shown a tremendous growth mindset, a desire to absorb information, and has been a total team player. I know she’ll come back strong and hopefully be in the mix for the next World Cup.”

Fishel has played three times for the senior U.S. team, with one goal. She has made 12 appearances for Chelsea so far, scoring twice.

Coincidentally, Fishel’s manager at Chelsea is Emma Hayes, who in a few months will become the Americans’ next full-time leader. Kilgore has been the interim boss since Vlatko Andonovski’s dismissal after last summer’s crash at the World Cup.

A less positive coincidence is that Fishel is now Chelsea’s second American with an ACL injury. Catarina Macario, another rising star, has been out since June 2022. The 24-year-old is nearing the end of her recovery, and Hayes said last week she believes Macario could return to action next month. That could mean a return to the national team for April’s SheBelieves Cup, which will be Kilgore’s last tournament in charge.

Hayes’ debut is expected when the U.S. plays a two-game friendly set in June. Those might be the last games before the Olympic team is picked. There will be two send-off games in July before the squad heads to France for the tournament.

As for the short term, veteran Alex Morgan will replace Fishel on the Gold Cup roster. Morgan was the biggest name left off the initial squad, in part because of what’s now a 12-month goal drought for her country — including the entire World Cup, a subject of much consternation. In fact, Tuesday’s game is exactly two days short of a year since Morgan’s last tally.

She scored seven goals in 20 games for her club, the NWSL’s San Diego Wave, last year, but that’s well off her usual level. With Olympics rosters limited to just 18 players, the 34-year-old was under real pressure to step up this year. Now she has a huge opportunity.

“Not how I would wish to come into camp but ready to get to work!” Morgan wrote on social media.

She lives in San Diego, so she didn’t have to travel far to join the U.S. camp in Carson, Calif. The Americans will play all of their group games there: against the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, Argentina on Friday, and Mexico next Monday. All three games are 10:15 p.m. Philadelphia time kickoffs, with broadcasts on Paramount+ in English and ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ in Spanish.

Fans who tune in will notice that Morgan won’t wear her usual jersey number, 13. It’s a Concacaf rule that an injury replacement player must take the sidelined player’s number, so Morgan will wear No. 7.

“As we start this tournament, we’re fortunate to be able to add a player like Alex to the roster,” Kilgore said. “Her accomplishments speak for themselves, she’s been training extremely hard with the Wave in preseason, and I know she’ll be more than ready to contribute in this tournament.”