IN HER NEW ERA

Motherhood and more have given ALEX MORGAN a refreshed sense of purpose and peace of mind, supercharging her play ahead of her fourth World Cup

- ALEX MORGAN

The future is home in her soccer pajamas, eating a waffle and drinking a smoothie. Charlie Elena Carrasco says she is "2 and a half," but she is actually a few days from turning 3. Someday, she will want to excel at math or science, or be a sports star, or start a company or run for president, and somebody will either tell her outright that she can't because she is female, or she can't (because she is female)-the sexism implied but not spoken, making it harder to call out. Right now, Charlie wants yogurt. Her mother gets up and walks to the fridge.

When Charlie was 1, the National Women's Soccer League awarded an expansion team to San Diego, and Charlie's mom, who grew up near Los Angeles, asked to be relocated to be closer to family. The official December 2021 transaction says the San Diego Wave acquired Alex Morgan from the Orlando Pride for Angharad James and a record $275,000 in allocation money, but as Charlie tells her mom: "Your name is Alex, but your real name is Mommy."

Now Morgan and her husband, former MLS midfielder Servando Carrasco, live in Encinitas, and their extended family covers the area like sunshine. Morgan's mom is in Newport Beach, her sister is in Mission Viejo and Carrasco's family is in Tijuana. Morgan's father lives a few minutes away, in Cardiff; sometimes he picks up Charlie from school in his golf cart.

Charlie picks up a toy that one of her cousins left here. She plays "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid on her Ariel doll and dances the dance of a child who has not yet been conditioned to be self-conscious. She knows what her parents are planning for her in the short term (preschool, a birthday party) but not in the long term (sibling[s], a more equitable society).