US team ready for first of 2 exhibition against Mexico in runup to World Cup qualifying

By Anne M. Peterson

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANDY, Utah _ Alex Morgan has fond memories of Utah’s Rio Tinto Stadium, albeit chilly ones.

The American forward made her first international appearance in 2010 at the home of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake, a late-March match played in near-blizzard conditions.

The team returns to Rio Tinto on Saturday in far better weather for the first of two exhibitions against Mexico in advance of October’s championship of soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean region, which serves as qualifying for the Women’s World Cup next year in Canada. The second exhibition against El Tri will be played Sept. 18 in Rochester, New York.

When Morgan made her national team debut, the snow at Rio Tinto was so heavy players made snow angels on the sidelines.