USWNT forward Alex Morgan spoke to the press ahead of the Americans' second friendly against Germany on Sunday evening at Red Bull Arena.

Among the topics discussed were the play of the side in the first match on Thursday, where they can improve, her historic 200th cap and meeting the World Cup-winning US Cerebral Palsy team.

Morgan wants to "end the year off right" in USWNT's final match of 2022

The 2-1 defeat to Germany was the USWNT's first loss at home in theior last 71 matches and Morgan is looking for more sharpness in the team's overall play.

"Those matches (against England and Spain) just weren't good enough to the standard of the women's national team. This last game, I think we saw a lot of improvements.

"I think we had a lot of rhythm in the game, especially in the first hallf and let that drop in the second half, so I think hearing 'three-game losing streak' is tough as a US national team member and I don't think the scoreline was indicative of how we played.

"At the end of the day, we need to take a look at that and make sure we end the year off right. We're lucky enough to have another opportunity against Germany. We're not gonna get second chances come the World Cup, so we're doing everything we can to make sure we put goals away."

"We're really optimistic for this next game"

Morgan had the assist on Megan Rapinoe's goal that tied the game, which was set up by the vaunted high press run by manager Vlatko Andonovski and she assessed how it can improve from Friday's match.

"I think there were really good moments in there that started with Rose (Lavelle), myself, Mallory (Pugh), Sophia (Smith), but a lot of times it was just too disjointed.

"They (Germany) got through us a lot more than we would've liked. I think we pride ourselves on being the best team at high-pressing and re-gaining the ball high up the field and I think we did that quite a few times, but didn't capitalize on the chances that we got.

"There's a lot of areas of the game we can get better at and we're working at that every day. It's the small details that we definitely need to refine We're not where we need to be come eight months, nine months, but we're trending that way. We're really optimistic for this next game."

"We had the chances"

Morgan felt if the Americans had converted on a number of early chances, the match could have been different.

"The game completely changes even if we just put one of those away and I think we allowed Germany to get into the game a little bit more in the second half and it's because we didn't put it away early.

"We had the chances. 100% quality chances. It was either poor decision-making or maybe we rushed it once we did break them down and get behind their back line.

"That's the time we didn't need to rush, so it's those small decision-making errors that led to the game costing us and we're looking at that moving forward, for sure.

"We want to be lethal in front of goal. If we have one chance, we want to put it away because we're not gonna get four, five, six chances against a quality team like Germany, one of the top teams in the world, so that's really important for us looking forward."

The USWNT has never lost four matches in a row and Morgan, as one of the veterans of the team at 33, will be counted on to provide the leadership to guide this young squad in the rematch against Germany.

"Every game weighs on us. We want to play our best every day and we have created an enviornment in training that is the most competitive in the world day in and day out.

"When we get on the field against Germany, against Spain, against England, against Sweden, it doesn't matter who we play. We want to play our best.

"The other night, we played a little bit of our best, but not for enough and we didn't finish the game when we should've. Those are important pieces that we've looked at over the last day or two.

"We want to make sure (that) don't happen again in this next game especially given that it's been an incredibly long season. Players want to end on a high note and we're in our mode of continuing our path to the World Cup. This is an incredibly important game for us moving forward."

"I hope we're successful in my 200th cap"

With her appearance on Sunday, Morgan will become the 11th player in USWNT history to reach 200 caps and she was asked to reflect on her journey in a USA shirt.

"It's a little surreal coming up on 200 cause I almost feel like 100 was just a couple of years ago and before that, my first cap so i've absoultely loved every moment i've played on this team.

"I never take anything for granted and just fortunate and grateful to continue to be here to represent the country. Now as one of the most capped players and a veteran on the team, I hope to continue to lead this team.

"I hope we're successful in my 200th cap because I really want to win. I want to win every game, but especially Sunday."

The 33-year-old discussed her first cap and her feelings of putting on the USA shirt for the first time.

"I was just very wide-eyed and eager to learn and overwhelmed with everything when my first cap hit me and a lot has happened since then and obviously a lot of personnel change in terms of players.

"A lot of what this team is about has continued to remain and it's just great to continue to be on this journey and be to continue to represent this team and this country for 12 years now.

"My highlight has been the number of times i've been able to represent my country at the highest stage, so all the Olympics and World Cups, we work our whole lives and once that's over, we work for another year, two years, three years to get back to those moments that make it all worth it."

"It was great to have the CP team out there"

The US Cerebral Palsy women's team was in attendance for the training session of the USWNT and Morgan was delighted to talk to all ten members of the World Cup-winning squad.

"It was great to have the CP team out at training today. They're also in training camp here, so it was great to cross paths with them and we just talked about their journey to getting on that team, what their future games look like, what their hopes are and what ours are.

"It was just great sharing stories. That's been my first encounter with a lot of those players and it's also incredible to see. They have a 15-year old on their team representing the CP team and they have a couple (of) 30-year-olds, so their team ranges in age just as our team.

"It was great to get together and have a couple of laughs and have them come out to training. I think they're coming out to the game, as well."

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