U.S. women counting on Christen Press, team's depth

WASHINGTON — The U.S. women's soccer team isn't worried about replacing Alex Morgan.

This might sound surprising, considering the star forward started the first two World cup qualifying matches and has scored 49 goals in 77 games, but the Americans have depth and will use it as they continue their journey to qualify for the 2015 tournament.

"We have lots of forwards so we'll just put someone else up there," said Megan Rapinoe, who scored the final goal in Friday's 5-0 win over Guatemala. "I think for us in these games, it'll be OK. Someone else will step up. But obviously for her, it's just, I feel gutted for her with these last 12 months that she's had. ... I think we're all more concerned about her and that she's had another injury rather than someone stepping in for her."

Morgan sprained her left ankle — the same ankle that kept her out for seven months over the past year — in the 37th minute of Friday's game and was taken off the field on a stretcher. She is expected to miss four to six weeks and returned home to rehab while her teammates went to Washington to continue CONCACAF group play.

So who will replace Morgan? The United States plays Haiti on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET at RFK Stadium (Fox Sports 1). The Americans lead their group and likely will advance to the tournament semifinals and final Friday and Sunday, respectively, in Philadelphia. The top three finishers in the tournament earn a spot in the World Cup.

The USA's abundance of depth will be more important than ever in the coming week. Christen Press is one of six new players on the roster who were not on the team for the 2012 Olympics, where the Americans won gold. She'll be a player to watch as she gains more experience — she has 13 goals in 29 appearances for the national team.

When Morgan left the game, Sydney Leroux moved into the central role and 25-year-old Press came in out wide. She nearly had a goal minutes later at the end of the first half, but it was called back on an offside call.

Coach Jill Ellis, who has watched Press grow over the years when she was the coach at UCLA and Press was a player at Stanford (she won the Hermann Trophy, awarded to college soccer's best player, in 2010), sees great potential in the young forward.

"She's a player," Ellis said. "She's multidimensional. She can run a play, she can come off the line, she can penetrate with or without the ball. She did a much better effort to get herself wide. We want her timing her runs so she's coming into a pass that's taking her to goal rather than staying too wide or being too narrow."

She has things to learn, but Ellis and veteran players say Press, who has played overseas in Sweden and currently plays for the Chicago Red Stars, asks the right questions.

"She's growing every game," Rapinoe said. "I think she's really grasping on. Very smart player. She's just a smart person on and off the field."

The USA also has Leroux, Amy Rodriguez and, of course Abby Wambach, the world's all-time leading scorer with 171 goals, to fill Morgan's void up top.