Part of this is positional: as a target striker, a No. 9 in soccer terms, Morgan’s role in Coach Jill Ellis’s 4-3-3 system is multifold: sometimes she is chasing down balls played in front of her; often she plays with her back to the goal instead, winning headers or controlling long passes and holding off defenders just long enough for her wings and midfielders to join her in the attack. At all times, she is looking to get herself free, and into a position to score.

Against Thailand in the Americans’ opening game, that meant five goals. (More than a few people thought that was too many; Morgan didn’t particularly care about their opinion.) But Morgan hasn’t scored since. Against Sweden, she was subbed off at halftime. Against Spain, she spent a good chunk of the match detailing for the referee how she was being abused. But against France, her holdup play was again vital, buying time for a tiring team that was defending valiantly with (almost) all hands for most of the second half.

“Naturally, as a No. 9, I’m going to be plowed through quite often, and I understand that comes along with the job,” Morgan said. “And it happens many times, in the N.W.S.L., or even with friendlies, so I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily more physical in general at this World Cup. I would just say that it comes with the territory.”

The job is quite a change for a player once nicknamed Baby Horse for the way she ran freely behind defenses. But that was a different time.

England Coach Phil Neville, who once boasted of kicking an Arsenal player until he questioned his career choices, has surely noted that, while the treatment hasn’t stopped the United States from winning, it has stopped Morgan from scoring. That is absolutely something he would like to see continue.