BODY OF WORK: Alex Morgan has drawn attention for her looks, but it’s her play in England that has the U.S. women’s soccer team in the finals against Japan. (
)
MANCHESTER, England — Eighteen years ago, a precocious 5-year-old girl from southern California wrote her mom a note that proved to be prescient.
“When I grow up I want to be a professional athlete,’’ Alex Morgan wrote.
“The note is actually still in my mom’s office. She has it to this day,’’ Morgan, the U.S. women’s soccer forward who scored the winning goal in Monday’s semifinal victory over Canada, said yesterday. “I watched the Olympics when I was a little girl and I wanted to be a professional athlete since I was 5 years old.’’
Morgan has always wanted to be a star.
After her incredible Olympic spotlight moment Monday night — an NBC dream moment that will forever be burned into our memories as a highlight of these Games — how would you say that worked out?
If you paged through this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Morgan might have caught your attention as a model wearing nothing but body paint on her 5-foot-8 frame.
You might have so been taken by her stunning looks that you were not even interested whether or not she can play her sport well.
Now you know.
The 23-year-old not only looks good in or out of uniform, but she can play, too. Sometimes it takes an international moment like Monday night’s — more than 123 minutes into the semifinal match — to alert the masses.
Morgan has the potential to be the next superstar of women’s soccer, of women’s sports in general. She can become the next Mia Hamm, the all-time leading scorer in international women’s soccer. She is that good.
“We came up with the nickname ‘Baby Horse’ for her when she first came onto the team, because she has so much talent and was so raw, she was kind of wild,’’ Megan Rapinoe, who scored two goals in the 4-3 U.S. win, said. “And now she’s a beautiful stallion.’’
Since the moment Morgan came to the team, Rapinoe said she “has always been there in the biggest moments.
“Even from early on in her career, that’s been her staple. She’s shown up in the biggest spots. She’s all over the field now and has definitely developed into a 90-minute player … a 120-minute player now.
“In the beginning, I think people saw her as just a pretty face that scored goals. But she’s so much more than that. Her game has developed so much and she’s only 24 years old. Her future is super bright.’’
Morgan was raised in Diamond Bar, Calif., and attended the same local high school that sent Keith Van Horn to the NBA and Jim Edmonds to Major League Baseball. She met her boyfriend, Seattle Sounders FC defensive midfielder Servando Carrasco, during her first year at the University of California from which she graduated in three-and-a half years with a degree in political economy.
Another moment or two in tomorrow night’s gold medal game against Japan at Wembley Stadium and Morgan’s looks and skill will go viral.
“She has a gift,’’ U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said.
Sundhage saw that gift unwrap itself around last summer’s World Cup, as Morgan was forging her reputation as a super-sub, a late-game assassin who comes off the bench with fresh young legs, gets behind the defense and scores goals of gigantic consequence.
Sundhage said it was after the World Cup when she finally thought, “Hmmmm, maybe she deserves to start.’’
Morgan has done much work on her play off the ball, positioning herself in front of the goal for teammates’ crosses. She worked tirelessly on being a better player in the air, something at which veteran star Abby Wambach has become the best in the world.
So when Heather O’Reilly from East Brunswick, N.J., sent that cross into the box and it was not Wambach’s but Morgan’s head that directed the ball into the net for the game-winner, it was a momentous occasion — for both Morgan and the team.
“She’s definitely grown and matured as a player and she’s still a genetic freak in my opinion,’’ Wambach said. “She makes plays that you don’t expect anyone to make.’’
How good can Morgan, who now has three goals in these Games, become?
“Depends on what she wants,’’ Sundhage said.
If you believe in the determination that 5-year-old girl displayed 18 years ago, you probably shouldn’t bet against Morgan.
“I remember watching the Olympic final in Beijing [four years ago],’’ Morgan said. “It was like 4 or 5 in the morning in California and I remember waking up and being the only one on my college team waking up to watch that. At that moment I knew I was going to be with this team this year, this Olympics.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com