Photo: Holly Cheng, cropped by Blackcat via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped. This adapted image is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Alex Morgan is a world champion again. The USA beat the Netherlands 2-0 in the Women’s World Cup final in Lyon on Sunday, with second-half goals from Megan Rapinoe, from the penalty spot, and Rose Lavelle, in front of 57,900 fans. It's the USA's fourth World Cup and their second in a row.
Vegan co-captain Morgan finished the tournament with six goals and three assists, level with Rapinoe and England's Ellen White. Rapinoe took the Golden Boot on the tiebreaker, so Morgan gets the Silver Boot. Five of her goals came in one game, the 13-0 win over Thailand, which makes her only the second player ever to score five in a Women's World Cup match. She also headed the winner against England in the semi-final on her 30th birthday.
Morgan celebrated on Instagram with a picture of herself kissing the trophy, and summed it up in four words: “WORLD CHAMPS, BABY”.
She went vegan in late 2017 and has been open about why. She told Reuters, as LiveKindly reported:
I even adopted a vegan diet, because it didn't feel fair to have a dog I adore, and yet eat meat all the time.
Last month PETA named her and Kyrie Irving its most beautiful vegan celebrities of 2019. Seven matches in under four weeks at the very top of world football, on plants, should put the 'weak vegan' stereotype to rest for good.
Last October Morgan took the Golden Boot as the USA won the CONCACAF Championship, months after going vegan. In England, Manchester United's Chris Smalling went fully vegan, and plant-based Erin Phillips won the AFLW Grand Final medal in March.
World champions, powered by plants.