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Alex Morgan Women’s World Cup Props: USA Striker Given 6-1 Odds to Win Golden Boot, 11-2 Odds to Win Player of Tournament

Ryan Metivier

by Ryan Metivier in Soccer News

Updated Apr 6, 2020 · 11:59 AM PDT

Alex Morgan
American Alex Morgan has a chance at both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot Awards this summer at the WWC. Photo By Jamie Smed (Flickr)]
  • The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off this Friday
  • The USWNT are considered strong favorites to progress deep into the tournament and defend their title
  • Bookmakers consider American striker Alex Morgan one of the most likely winners of both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball Awards

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to kick off this Friday, June 7, 2019. With the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) considered favorites to make a deep run, star striker Alex Morgan will also have big expectations on her shoulders to lead the team.

The 29-year-old plays for the Orlando Pride in the NWSL in the United States. Morgan recently scored her 100th goal with the USWNT, becoming just the seventh player to do so.

Alex Morgan Golden Ball/Golden Boot Odds

Result Odds to Win Golden Ball (MVP) Odds to Win Golden Boot
Yes +550 +600
No -900 -1000

*Odds taken June 5, 2019

Bookmakers have installed her as the betting favorite to win the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer. They’re now also offering yes/no propositions for her to win the both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball (MVP).

Morgan had an extraodinary year in 2018, scoring 18 goals in 19 matches. The feat won her the USWNT Player of the Year Award.

In five World Cup qualifying matches, Morgan scored seven times for USA, a number very comparable to the tallies of past Golden Boot winners. In 2015 the winner had six, in 2011 five, and seven goals was what it took in each of the previous three tournaments.

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Now World Cup qualifying is much different than the actual World Cup, as USA’s qualifying opponents were not the strongest. They brushed them aside by a combined scoreline of 26-0. But it is to say that Morgan is capable of putting up enough goals in a short period of time to win.

History of Past Award Winners

If you think the US will be playing into late June or even early July, then there could be some real value on betting Morgan for both of these props.

The Women’s World Cup has been played seven times before. The winners of the World Cup had a player win the Golden Ball as tournament MVP five times. While Golden Boot winners have come from the winning side on four occasions.

In four of the past five years the same player has won both award. So while goalscoring may not always correlate towards being tournament MVP, the trend has pointed that way in recent years.

Past Winners

Year Golden Ball Winner (Country) Golden Boot Winner (Country) Won World Cup?
1991 Carin Jennings (USA) Michelle Akers (USA) Yes/Yes
1995 Hege Riise (NOR) Ann Kristin Aarønes (NOR) Yes/Yes
1999 Sun Wen (CHI) Sun Wen/Sissi (CHI/BRA) No/No
2003 Birgit Prinz (GER) Birgit Prinz (GER) Yes/Yes
2007 Marta (BRA) Marta (BRA) No/No
2011 Homara Sawa (JPN) Homare Sawa (JPN) Yes/Yes
2015 Carli Lloyd (USA) Célia Šašić (GER) Yes/No

Last tournament, USA’s Carli Lloyd won the Golden Ball and was the tournament’s second-leading scorer.

If we look a little further back, in 1991 and 1995, Golden Ball winners Carin Jennings and Hege Riise, were third and second in tournament scoring respectively.

Last tournament, USA’s Carli Lloyd won the Golden Ball and was the tournament’s second-leading scorer.

Lloyd is the oldest player on the American roster at 36. She’s expected to come off the bench in this tournament, though says she still feels 26 and will be hoping to have a major impact.

Good Value With Morgan

It’s always nice to get a “No” side of a wager. Often you can only bet on the positive outcome of a prop and not the opposite.

There are definitely plenty of obstacles in front of Morgan to win these awards. Her own teammates, Lloyd, Tobin Heath, Megan Rapinoe and others may cut into her goals and ability to win.

But so many other players stand a chance as well, such as Australia’s Sam Kerr, French stars Eugenie Le Sommer and Valerie Gauvin and a trio of English players all ranked within the top 15.

Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema and Germany’s Alexandra Popp are both among the top-seven favorites to win the Golden Boot. We haven’t even mentioned the all-time World Cup scoring leader Marta.

There is a chance, Morgan and the Americans hit an early roadblock with a potential quarters match looming against hosts France. Should they lose, it will be two less games for Morgan to score and make a name for herself.

Though USA should also fill the net plenty early on with group stage matches against 34th ranked Thailand and 39th Chile.

The juice on the “No” is too much for me, so I’d split a unit on the “Yes” to each of these and hope USA go deep, and Morgan adds one or both awards to her trophy cabinet. When you consider Team USA are about 3-1 odds to win the title, betting on Morgan may be the best value out there.

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