JUVENTUS FORWARD LIANNE Sanderson has weighed in on Alex Morgan’s “disrespectful” tea-drinking celebration during the USA’s Women’s World Cup semi-final win over England.
The USWNT progressed to the final of the competition with a 2-1 win over the Lionesses in what proved to be a headline-grabbing game for a number of reasons — but Morgan divided opinion with her celebration after netting her side’s second.
Christen Press’ 10th-minute strike handed the holders the initiative, nine minutes before Ellen White levelled the scoring.
Morgan’s strike after 31 minutes proved to be the decisive goal however, and England international Sanderson felt her celebration was unnecessary.
I think tonight I expected Alex to grab a goal, but I’m not that happy with that celebration,” she told beIN Sports.
“You can celebrate however you want but that for me is a bit distasteful and I don’t think she needs to do that.”
☕ @liannesanderson calls Alex Morgan's tea sipping celebration "distasteful."
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Meanwhile, Morgan was coy when asked about her tea-drinking celebration against England. She indicated that it was inspired by one of her teammates, who herself produced an instantly iconic celebration in the quarter-final against France by lofting her arms skyward after scoring both of her goals.
“I wanted to keep it interesting,” Morgan said after the game. “I know Megan Rapinoe has the best celebrations, so I had to try to step up this game.
“We have a lot of noise around this team and it doesn’t affect this team, and so I think we’re just drinking the tea.”
The American striker indicated that Rapinoe may have played a part in planning the celebration, a charge that her team-mate didn’t exactly deny.
I’m always in the mix on things but we can’t give away all the trade secrets,” Rapinoe said with a smile.
The US will take on either Sweden or the Netherlands in the final on Sunday as they look to make it back-to-back World Cup titles.
Having gone through a gauntlet of France and England in the semi-final, Morgan says her team is now stronger for having come out the other side. “This team has had so much thrown at us and I feel like we didn’t take the easy route to the final this tournament,” Morgan said.
“And that’s the tea.”
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