US star Alex Morgan responds to controversial social media post at Women’s World Cup | OneFootball

Alex Morgan has responded after a post from the United States women’s national team Twitter account caused a stir among residents of Melbourne.

The US are set to come up against Sweden in the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup.

The team travelled to the Australian city of Melbourne for the encounter, having played all of their matches so far in New Zealand.

They immediately got to work, training under the floodlights of a small stadium. But a Twitter post from the session caused a storm on social media, prompting a response from Morgan during a press conference.

The Twitter post in question, which featured a photo of the USWNT players training under floodlights, seemed fairly innocuous.

But it was the caption that left those from Melbourne fuming. “Under the lights in Melby,” it read.

“No! Our wonderful city has NEVER ever been called Melby,” seethed one Twitter user. “Many neutral supporters may well now jump on Sweden’s bandwagon as a result and you only have yourself to blame.”

“It’s Melbourne or worse case scenario and I mean worse case scenario it can be Melbs but NEVER Melby,” someone else explained.

“Calling Melbourne ‘Melby’ should lead to immediate prison time,” another joked, with a fourth person humorously replying: “Sweden. Please. Do us a favour. Do us all a favour.”

Alex Morgan responds to controversial social media post

Morgan was asked about the situation during a press conference before the US’s match against Sweden.

“I didn’t know there was a stir caused from shortening a city’s name,” the 34-year-old striker said.

“I mean, they say brekky, so I thought Melby was just the next continuation of that. But we’ll call them whatever they want, so it’s Melbourne.”

US struggle to impress at Women’s World Cup

The United States have struggled to impress at the Women’s World Cup, squeaking through into the knockout stage.

They started well, defeating Vietnam 3-0, but were then held to a 1-1 draw by the Netherlands.

Disaster nearly struck in their final group match against Portugal, which eventually finished a 0-0 draw.

Portuguese substitute Ana Capeta struck the post in the dying moments of the game – if she had scored, the US would have been knocked out of Women’s World Cup in the group stages.

Instead, they progressed in second place, and will vie for a place in the quarter-finals against Group G winners Sweden, who have won all of their matches so far.

It’s strange to think of the United States as underdogs, but many consider the Swedes as the most likely to win the round of 16 contest.

Morgan and her teammates will be hoping to prove the doubters wrong, particularly after the side were criticised by football legend Carli Lloyd for celebrating too much after drawing against Portugal.