Orlando Pride’s determination to ensure their “one-in-a-billion” Brazilian icon Marta won her first NWSL championship title helped focus their determination to get over the line, says team goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse.
Marta, 38, who was named FIFA Women’s Footballer of the Year six times between 2006 and 2018, had spent seven seasons with Orlando without lifting a trophy before the team became only the second in the NWSL to win the league won. shield and the championship title in the same campaign after beating Washington Spirit 1-0 in Saturday’s final.
“We just had a sense of calm about us,” said Moorhouse, an uncapped member of the England squad preparing to face the United States at Wembley on Saturday. “I don’t think anyone was overly stressed. Everyone knew what work they had to do. Everyone knew what we were fighting for. Of course, we have Luana, who beat cancer this year. We have Marta, who is Marta. We had to take it home for Marta. So I think we just had this calm, this silence and the belief that we were just going to do it.
“She [Marta] is incredible, I think she’s one in a million, one in a billion, she’s one in one. She’s just an incredible human being, first and foremost. I remember my first interaction with her, she said, ‘Hi, I’m Marta.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to introduce yourself!’ She has so much passion for the game. She wants to win everything and that is contagious.”
Orlando’s triumph followed NWSL finishes of 10th and seventh in 2022 and 2023 respectively and Moorhouse was asked why they had made such improvements. “I think we’ve had consistency. Consistency in player turnover, coaching staff turnover, background staff. We’ve kept pretty much the same group of players from last year to this year. We added a few parts where we had to strengthen things, but yeah, I think ‘consistency’. As a team we didn’t really listen to the pressure from outside, from the media, from the opponents’ fans and things like that. We were so focused on getting the job done and bringing home the trophy.”
Moorhouse will be hoping to earn her first England cap, like Sarina Wiegman against the USA or in Tuesday’s match against Switzerland. She set an NWSL regular season record of 13 clean sheets this season. The former Arsenal, West Ham United and Bordeaux player received her first senior England call-up in July at the age of 29 and spoke at the time about the emotion of being called up after so long a wait.
She hopes to show that she can add something different to coach Sarina Wiegman’s options and conquer a place at next summer’s European Championships. “Mary [Earps] and Hanna [Hampton] are really good goalkeepers in their own right,” she said. “I think I can add something else. Of course I’m very tall. I think that’s a big part of my game – I come out for crosses, I lead in those areas. I think I can add something else.
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“I definitely want to be part of the Euros team. That’s definitely on my mind and that’s definitely something I’m looking forward to when I get that opportunity. I need to have a good start [2025] season at Orlando. Hopefully I can impress Sarina at this camp and the other camps I have been to, so that I get a phone call in February camp and I can get on a plane to Switzerland.”