"How are you going to stop USA's tough attack lead by Morgana LaRue, the superstar of this generation?"
"I see no reason why I'd tell any of my girls playing on her to treat her any differently than the rest of the team."
"Why's that?"
"Morgana LaRue is good, but is she THAT good?"
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Morgana's POV
"Morgana. Get up." Mal said, shaking me awake. "Come on. Get up."
"What could you possibly want?" I yawned, turning to face her. "It's 5am. I still have 3 more hours of sleep."
"Look at this." She faced her phone towards me.
"That's a picture of Kelley double-fisting two beers."
"Wha-" She turned it back to her, shook her head and then pulled something else up. "This."
"'Morgana LaRue is good, but is she THAT good.' Why are you showing me this babe?"
"Look who said it."
"I don't feel like looking. You tell me."
"The Northern Ireland coach."
"And why would I care about what that coach says about me? We're playing them in friendlies. I'd care about what coaches from the teams we play in the group stages of the World Cup are saying, but this doesn't mean much to me."
"It makes me mad."
"I know Mal. I know. But if you were on the receiving end of this, you'd feel differently."
"And if you loved the person on the receiving end, you'd feel the same way as me."
"Fair enough." I said. "I'm going back to sleep."
"Don't let it hurt you."
"I wasn't planning on it."
----------
April 8th, 2023
Morgana's POV
After tallying a goal a game in January in New Zealand, carrying the USWNT to my second SheBelieves Cup alongside Mal, opening the season with the Red Stars with 3 goals in two games, and being called into April camp, my World Cup year was off to a great start.
But Mal's might be better.
She had a brace and a goal in the first game against New Zealand back in January, along with an assist to me. She had a third goal in the second game, and another assist to Lynn Williams.
Then in the SheBelieves Cup, she had a brace against Canada, a goal against Japan, and another against Brazil. We swept the cup with relative ease, winning 3-0, 3-1, and 3-1 respectively. I had a goal in each game and Alex had the other goal against Japan, Hatchy with the other against Brazil.
Time to continue our great start. I thought as I took the field, doing my handshake with Mal and then dropping into the midfield.
The game started out very slow, we almost struggled to generate offense even with Mal, Soph, and Alex up top.
We got what seemed to be a good chance in about the 30th minute, I played the ball through to Mal, who ran down the defense. But she was taken to the ground and sent sliding right into the goalkeeper. There was no playing of the ball at all, the girl completely took out her legs.
There was no foul called, but the play was stopped. Mal was down and crying, and I sprinted over. The trainers came out immediately.
"Mal. Mal. Mal." I shook her a little bit, and she looked up at me. She grabbed my hand as the trainers came over and started talking and doing a whole bunch of things, gradually pushing me farther and farther away from her.
One of the trainers gave me a water bottle and I took it blindly, then I felt someone put their arm around my shoulder, turning me away. I looked over to see that it was Sophia, and I relaxed a little bit.
"She'll be okay. She's okay."
I nodded and pulled the collar of my shirt above my nose. She took the water bottle from me as we hit the sideline. I wasn't allowed to step off the field, but Hatchy came over to me and talked to me, avoiding the subject of Mal but telling me all about how to crack down their defense.
Mal walked off on her own, and they did more concussion testing on the sideline. I jogged over and whispered something to her.
"Don't push it. There's no point."
"But-"
"I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but just know how unimportant this game is."
"Well it's important to me, Morgana." She replied in a tone she's never taken with me.
I figured she'd been hit hard and couldn't think straight. I was certain the trainers would keep her off.
But she came back on.
She was playing completely fine, which was so wild to me. I could tell she wasn't right though. Something about her was off.
In the 37th minute, Emily Fox burst through Ireland's defenders, and rips a shot from about a foot outside the box. The ball slips bast the goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner. Foxy's first international goal gives us the 1-0 lead.
Hardly three minutes later, real disaster strikes.
Mal received a pass and then got the ball off her foot quickly. But there was a late tackle, a terrible, awful late tackle.
Her foot was taken out from under her, and she hit the ground hard, screaming in pain louder than I'd ever heard anyone scream.
I was over there so fast. Rose and Lindsey were close behind me.
I tried talking to her, but she couldn't get words out. She was crying too much, too hard.
She was holding her knee, and I didn't dare look over that way. My eyes stayed focused in on her face.
The trainers came running out and the field cleared so fast.
My head was spinning, the world was spiraling around me as I stared at Mal, holding her hand as the trainers finally reached us. The crowd was dead silent, so quiet if someone in the stands had spoken at a normal volume, I probably would have heard it.
The trainers gently told me to move, but I refused, too afraid to move even the slightest muscle.
"Just move, Morgana. It's okay." Mal said quietly, and I burst into tears.
"I can't leave you." I whispered. "I can't. You're not okay."
I felt someone grab me and almost lift me up, and I assumed it was a trainer but it was Lindsey. She just told me to move over a few feet, and a trainer filled in the space.
The whole stadium could probably hear my uncontrollable crying, I was shaking and I couldn't get ahold of myself. I couldn't even imagine what Mal was feeling right now.
Lindsey put her arm around me, and I leaned into her, crying into her shoulder. The truck came out with the stretcher, and her knee was all taped up and they were carefully lifting her up onto the back.
"We've gotta get her to the hospital. Straight there." One of the trainers told me. "That's where we're headed."
"I'm coming with you then."
"No." Mal said. "You have to finish out the game. Please. For me."
"I can't do that. There's no way."
"Yes you can. You're Morgana LaRue, god damn it. You're one of the strongest people I know."
"Because you're the strongest." I said. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you."
"I love you too."
Vlatko came out and talked to the trainers and Mal as I walked towards the bench to get some water.
Everyone was silent, staring at their feet.
"Here Morg." Sanchez handed me a water bottle, and Hatchy pulled me into a hug. I wanted to dissolve into thin air, I wanted no part of playing any more of a game but here we are.
Vlatko came walking over, and Hatchy let go of me.
"Trinity's replacing her." He said. "Do you want a sub too?"
"I need to get to the hospital." I said. But then I remembered what she told me. I chose the happy medium. "I'll finish out the half. Get a goal for her."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"You go for it then."
He sat down, and I looked back at Hatchy.
"Get that goal for her. It's all you, kiddo. No one does it quite like you."
I nodded and went back out on the field.